Choice--sbs-3 or Airnav?

[kingair]

I'm a newbie and having difficulty choosing either the sbs-3 or airnav. I've read Anmer's reviews, with all the comparisons/facilities of all their various functions. The only problem with this is how do I know if I require certain functions. For example the sbs-3 uses 3rd party for route info, which I would have thought for the price of £500 should be included. Airnav has this info but only in ICAO format which unless you have a reference book is of little help for non UK. Talking about 3rd parties, if I use say Planeplotter for the SBS-3 what happens to the Basestation software, is it overriden, and if so are some of the functions of the Basestation s/w now defunct?
I'm currently using Planefinder.net which I find for £0 excellent, with all the route & ICAO/aircraft info etc. If I purchase a new mode-S receiver with possibly external antennas & mast head amp, what great difference will I have to justify £500 for the sbs-3 or £290-£350 for the airnav. I've heard a lot about support/server & bug issues with the airnav, so in reality I guess it only leaves the sbs-3
Sorry about loads of Q's more probably to follow!!

Steve

[Anmer]

Hi Steve

No matter what we think about what is or isn't included, the commercial receivers are what they are, price and all.

Maybe your first question is "What more do I get compared to using an aircraft tracking website or app?"

I've tried to anser that in my "What's Radarspotting?" Guide.

The RadarBox is fine as long as you accept what it can or can't do, same as the SBS-3.

I would summarise the RadarBox as offering more features within the one software package, albeit being highly dependent on the AirNav server being available with an up-to-date database.  The receiver isn't as good as others and there's been no software updates since December 2009. 

The SBS-3 receiver is one of the best around and includes Software Defined Radios as standard and Ethernet connectivity.  The Bassestation software offers more customisation and you have a choice of third party applications such as Flight Display and Active Display.  But it costs more than the RadarBox.

There are alternative receivers, such as The Beast and microADSB which, typically, use the PlanePlotter software which can also be used with the RadarBox and SBS-3.  But the RdarBox can't supply raw data so you'll have to pay extra for Mlat if you use the RadarBox or don't want to feed the PP server on a regular basis.

If you use PP with the SBS-3, you can either run it on it's own or in conjunction with the Basestation software.  Just think twice before allowing PP to update your local database.

So in conclusion, you can carry on as you are forGBP£0 or invest in your own receiver and pay anything between GBP £100 to GBP£500 plus optional external antenna etc.

Is there a local dealer or friend that can show you the available options?  Or have a look on eBay and get yourself a pre-owned receiver for GBP£200 or less?

My original SBS-1 is now 7 years old and working perfectly.  My RadarBox sits in the drawer but that's my personal preference.

[kingair]

Thanks for the response Anmer, at least I'm now more informed than I was a few hours ago! One more question about the sbs-3 having a 'radio interface', I assume they are refering to the RS232 port. I already have aircraft scanners, but they have no means of hook up. You do mention this in your report saying not all radio's are supported. I take it there is no other means of connecting them up?
I also understand that Saitek's radio panel will interface with the sbs-3 to better control input of chosen frequencies for the SDR's. Will the radio panel connect to either the RS232 or I2C port? only I presume being a 'Flight simmer' and already have some Saitek products that it will be supplied with USB connection.

Regards

Steve

[Anmer]

The "not all radios are supported" refers to the early optional Radio Interface that preceded the radio tuner in the SBS-eR (for radio) and now the SDRs in the SBS-3.  The optional radio licence was a dead duck from day 1.

The SBS-3 SDRs (no scanning capability) are tunable from within the Basestation software using a Radio Panel.  Once tuned to an audio channel you can either connect the SBS-3 via cable to your PC sound card or attach powered speakers to the audio out jack.  Or use PC Audio Streaming, albeit with a second or two's delay.

When tuned to ACARS freqiencies the decoded data is passed from the SBS-3 as data to the Bassestation ACARS window (this is still a beta feature).  No need for speakers, sound card cable or audio streaming.

Other applications can get at the SBS-3 SDR output direct without Basestation running, such as PlanePlotter for ACARS raw data and ShipPlotter for AIS raw data.

It's starting to become a bit complex and PlanePlotter is evolving to offer SBS-3 SDR tuning.

As for the Saitek interface, all I've seen is the video.  How it works and interfaces with other SBS-3 applications is still a mystery for me.

[kingair]

One more final question and I will leave you alone. Can you explain the 8mhz restriction on the SDR. As I understand it you have two radios each with a standby frequency, so four frequencies in all. So long as I wish to listen to one frequency at a time the 8Mhz restriction does not apply. My nearest international airport is Birmingham some 40 miles away. The ground/Tower/App frequencies are 121.8/118.3/118.05. As can be seen they are no way near 8Mhz apart. Incidently with my external airband antenna I can receive all these stations on the ground, weak but perfectly audible.

[MIXISM]

Hello
There a two tuners in the SBS-3. It appear that there are 4 L.O.'s (8 Mhz each). I believe they setup the software so you would not need to do the add/sub from the Radio tuners. So for you set could set  tuner "A" to 121.8 and the offset L.O. to the same freq (121.8 )  is 0 HZ offset. Tuner "B" to 118.1 and L.O. 118.3 another L.O. to 118.05.
You still have one free L.O. you can set
Should work I believe.
Would you like me to set it up and post the screen grab.
Later

Here mine I have ACAR and AIS Freq setup. note which SRD is attach to which tuner.
Here in the USA the radio is no the best to listen to public FM radio Station even with the wide band filter.

[Attachment deleted by Admin to save file space]

[kingair]

Hi Mixism,

I have not purchased the sbs-3 yet, so these screen shots are a bit alien to me. Is Tuner A associated with SDR1&2 and Tuner B with SDR3&4? Also what is LO? If you would not mind sending me a screen grab of the frequencies I wish to use, 118.05/118.3/121.8 that would be great.

Cheers

Steve

[Anmer]

Have a read of the attached PDF.

[Attachment deleted by Admin to save file space]

[Chris-G0WTZ]

In simple terms you have 2 tuner that can have there signals spread over 4 audio channels
Those channels need to be plus or minus 4 mHz of the centre Frequency
So Tuner A set to 120 can listen to up to 4 channels between 116 & 124mHz
If you use Tuner B that does the same but you only have 4 audio channels so If you set Tuner B to a frequency you can listen to any audio channels not being listened to on tuner A
The only thing that is different is if you set  Tuner b to 161.975 it will listen to both AIS frequencies together.
So you can listen to 118.05/118.3/121.8 on Tuner A or Tuner B and listen to anything else on the free Tuner

I hope that makes a bit more sense

[kingair]

Ok, Thanks to Anmer & Chris for the info, it all makes sense now!

Steve