Make Your Own Aircraft Tracking Antenna With RTL SDR 

Thank you :-) That comment made my day! thanks!

Care to share where you got the instructions for the antenna you built?

@@SPLTDP I honestly can not remember. Google ads-b coax co-linear. I’m sure it’ll put you on the right track. Mine is still working flawlessly.

please share details to build

Best I've ever found too, how did you waterproof/weatherprotect it to last 5 years? I think mine went rusty after about 2 :)

@@JohnBaxendale I just spray painted it. On closer inspection, the can does show signs of rusting on the outside, but the connector inside is pristine still, as is the soldered vertical whip.

@@coriscotupi Thank you! That’s helpful, I used a little plastic to cover the tip but didn’t want to spray the can in case it killed the reception - I’ll give it another go :)

@@JohnBaxendale Avoid paints with any potentially metallic contents in them, such as silver or aluminum colored ones. Other than that, pretty much any spray paint will do, enamel, nitrocellulose (automotive), etc.

Thanks for the info, I might well try this!

Cool, thanks!

Thanks for watching!

I did a review of an Airband receive antenna a little while ago, but I have not made a video about making one. Maybe I will look into this too. Thanks for the suggestion and thanks for watching! :-)

I have just purchased a UBC125XLT scanner and the reception with the supplied antenna is absolutely awful. I have owned a variety of air-band radios over the years from analogue dial tuning to Yupi scanners but this 125XLT really disappoints me. I also are in a mind to return it and to look for something else but I really bought it to be portable rather than attached to a coax cable antenna. I might just have to use your advice and knowledge and build a discone or similar. Thanks for the video.

Thanks for watching!

You're welcome :-)

I don't currently have one, but I'll get one and see how good it is. Thanks for the suggestion!

@@TechMindsOfficial awesome!!! Michael Ossman touches on cli control of the OperaCake in his series on the HackRf. Also, in that series he mentions that the HackRF is capable of frequencies above 7ghz( Rx only, I think). If you can verify that a lot of us would greatly appreciate it. Lastly, can you give an opinion on feasibility of using / modifying OperaCake design to use with other Transceivers like the Adam-Pluto or similar. Thanks for all the information you convey to your viewers. It’s greatly appreciated. Oh, whatever came of your 2.4ghz Power amp.? I’ll look again for a wrap up video but last time I looked , I didn’t come across one. Thanks again

What is datv dvb-s2?

@@anonymous_friend same, what we are using for QO100 DATV (DVB-S2)

@anonymous_friend datv stands for Digital Amatuer Television. Check out the QO100 videos on my channel for more information. Thanks

Cheers!

Why even waterproof it? That would be pointless.

@@BigdoglittleWaterproofing it means it can live outside where it has a clear view of the sky and much better performance…

Waterproofing is important because the coax can let water seep in and ruin it, also the metal parts will corrode outside. You can use non-metalic spray paint with no issues, that's what I do.

Not terribly, at least for receiving purposes. Generally, the thicker the antenna element the wider frequency range it will resonate at (to an extent, and generally). For transmitting, it very important that your antenna is resonant on the frequency you're transmitting at. For receiving, you're not going to see much difference - at least on a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna like in the video. They tend to have a wide resonant bandwidth, anyway. So use what you have available. The #10 American Wire Gauge (6mm^2) or #12 AWG (4mm^2) bare copper wire from the electrical department of the hardware store is usually perfect for these knock-together projects. It's easy to solder, easy to straighten, and it's really cheap. You can get a foot (~30cm) of the wire for under a dollar where I am in the States. I keep about 10 feet of it around for when I get the urge to make something. If you get the insulated wire, it will work fine, but the length of the elements will change slightly (+/- 10%), so experiment until you find what works for you.

Sure! Here's the link: www.sv1afn.com/en/pcb-art/

Depends if you want to use the SDR for other things. A dedicated SDR with inbuilt LNA and Filter for ADSB is great if that's all you want to use it for. Having a Nooelec SDR, or an RTL-SDR V3/4 means you can use it for most things, and then just add on filters, lna etc when needed.

RTL-SDR is better

If you want to receive other things also the RTL-SDR is a better choice, if all you want is ADS-B the purpose built SDR is probably easier. If you find that you need a preamp you can add a Noolec or similar pre-amp to the RTL-SDR later.

1/4 wave ground plane antennas typically have a low angle of radiation and reception, which makes them great for satellites and aircraft as they will be much farther away at the horizon at the gain lobes than when they are directly above in one of the antenna's nulls. The relative distance when overhead more than compensates for the reception null. They're also broadbanded enough for doppler correction. Where dedicated turnstile and eggbeaters shine is when you're dealing with circular polarization. A linearly polarized antenna (like a ground plane or dipole) will have a 3db loss when receiving a circularly polarized signal, but you don't have to worry about right-hand or left-hand polarization mismatch, which can be 20db or more. I use a ground plane for FM satellite work. I used to go wave an Arrow Yagi antenna around in the parking lot like a weirdo, and honestly, the ground plane works just as well and my arms aren't as tired. In this use case, ADS-B signals are vertically polarized unless there is some weird propagation mode, such as reflection/refraction from mountain peaks or other aircraft and such.

Nope, it's the wrong frequency range. You need to calculate for around 125 MHz.

🖖

Yes, ADS-B uses the Mode S transponder with Extended Squitter. This is on the same frequency as any other Secondary Surveillance Radar return.

I think a lot of the commercial made ADSB antennas are like 5/8th wave co-linears. I havn't tried one but in this video I wanted to show how easy it would be to make a GP antenna using a calculator. Maybe I will make one and then do a live comparison between a GP and Co-Linear. Thanks for the suggestion!

Can you point me towards an N socket? I searched but didnt come up with anything.

adsb exchange is the best, love the instant military plane and "other" craft info.

This is where FlightRadar24 gets it's data from.

@@JohnBaxendale so why bother making an antenna when you can see it online worldwide ?

@@martinsalt1839 Some people enjoy the challenge and take pleasure in getting to learn the intricacies of radio, being able to beam data across the world invisibly and using simple home built components has held a fascination for people for decades. It's perfectly fine if you don't get it, each to their own. We all get our enjoyment in different ways and learn to live and let live.

@@martinsalt1839 If everyone thought like you then no one would see any aircraft on radar.

@@martinsalt1839 - Because it is fun to DIY. :-)

Wow, a 'real man' :-)