Boost PowerFLARM Range with Better Antenna?

Have seen lots of comments about where and how to mount PowerFLARM antennas.. Any stories of the effect of changing the TYPE of antenna used: e.g., from (in my case) the short, stubby Portable PowerFLARM rod antenna to, say, the center-fed dipole that comes with the core?

The question is with regard to the FLARM antenna only (not ADS-B or GPS), and specifically on its effect on receive range.

Primarily interested in commercial-off-the-shelf components but have built various antennas in the past and not averse to doing so again. Thx.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

Usually a 'better' antenna means one with more gain.
Which means one that is more directional.
Which means less sensitive in some areas in exchange for more sensitive in others.

Less sensitive in some areas might not be better for a collision avoidance.
Perhaps you could focus more on a pancake at you altitude.
Maybe a longer vertical dipole would do this.

Instead of a dipole made of 2 back to back 1/4 wave elements,
I wonder how 2 back to back 5/8 or 1 1/4 wave elements would do?

Also, the WiFi folks seem to have settled on a coaxial configuration for the dipole. This fixes the problem of the feed getting in the way of the elements. I'm not sure if it affects the pattern from underneath.

On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 6:31:11 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Have seen lots of comments about where and how to mount PowerFLARM antennas. Any stories of the effect of changing the TYPE of antenna used: e.g., from (in my case) the short, stubby Portable PowerFLARM rod antenna to, say, the center-fed dipole that comes with the core?

The question is with regard to the FLARM antenna only (not ADS-B or GPS), and specifically on its effect on receive range.

Primarily interested in commercial-off-the-shelf components but have built various antennas in the past and not averse to doing so again. Thx.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

http://tinyurl.com/l7tkpnh

Use one each on Flarm A & B inputs. Addition of 2nd antenna on Flarm B improves RX range.

T8

T8,

My understanding is that unlike the PowerFLARM core, the Portable PowerFLARM (which I have) requires a standard (vs. reverse polarity) connector for the "B" FLARM antenna. Mouser has such a version, too. Thx!

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

So 2 of us have FLARM CORE - and we put it in Stealth a long time ago and then back to normal - but when we get about 1 or 2 miles apart the other glider disappears - I can see 747's but can't see the other glider? any suggestions? here is my config


$PFLAC,S,DEF
$PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT2,71
$PFLAC,S,BAUD2,2
$PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT1,71
$PFLAC,S,BAUD1,2
$PFLAC,S,RANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,VRANGE,500
$PFLAC,S,ADSBRANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,ADSBVRANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,PCASRANGE,7000
$PFLAC,S,PCASVRANGE,600
$PFLAC,S,MODEC,0
$PFLAC,S,OWNMODEC,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASCALIBRATION,30
$PFLAC,S,XPDR,2
$PFLAC,S,MODESALT,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASBEEP,1
$PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU1,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU2,0
$PFLAC,S,AUDIOOUT,0
$PFLAC,S,AUDIOVOLUME,100
$PFLAC,S,ACFT,1
$PFLAC,S,PILOT,William Hanson
$PFLAC,S,LOGINT,4
$PFLAC,S,GLIDERID,N723PJ
$PFLAC,S,GLIDERTYPE,Pegase 101A
$PFLAC,S,COMPCLASS,Standard
$PFLAC,S,COMPID,WH
$PFLAC,S,PRIV,0
$PFLAC,S,NOTRACK,0

WH

ps - we both have 2 antennas

WH

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 1:05:10 PM UTC-7, wrote:
So 2 of us have FLARM CORE - and we put it in Stealth a long time ago and then back to normal - but when we get about 1 or 2 miles apart the other glider disappears - I can see 747's but can't see the other glider? any suggestions? here is my config


$PFLAC,S,DEF
$PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT2,71
$PFLAC,S,BAUD2,2
$PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT1,71
$PFLAC,S,BAUD1,2
$PFLAC,S,RANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,VRANGE,500
$PFLAC,S,ADSBRANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,ADSBVRANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,PCASRANGE,7000
$PFLAC,S,PCASVRANGE,600
$PFLAC,S,MODEC,0
$PFLAC,S,OWNMODEC,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASCALIBRATION,30
$PFLAC,S,XPDR,2
$PFLAC,S,MODESALT,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASBEEP,1
$PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU1,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU2,0
$PFLAC,S,AUDIOOUT,0
$PFLAC,S,AUDIOVOLUME,100
$PFLAC,S,ACFT,1
$PFLAC,S,PILOT,William Hanson
$PFLAC,S,LOGINT,4
$PFLAC,S,GLIDERID,N723PJ
$PFLAC,S,GLIDERTYPE,Pegase 101A
$PFLAC,S,COMPCLASS,Standard
$PFLAC,S,COMPID,WH
$PFLAC,S,PRIV,0
$PFLAC,S,NOTRACK,0

WH

Increase Vertical range for PowerFlarm to max 2000 Meters.

$PFLAC,S,VRANGE,2000

You also need this sentence for your mode S Code A9AFFF

$PFLAC,S,ID,A9AFFF

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

You've got ADSB horizontal and vertical range set to max. Since you're
generally dealing with 250 watt transponders, yes you can get incredible
range. But for collision avoidance, it's ridiculous. Do you really want
to see an airliner four miles above you at 50 miles? Cut it down to
something more reasonable like 10,000 and 1000 meters, keep your display
zoomed in to 5 miles or less, and concentrate on collision avoidance.

Maybe if the hardware is not processing so many irrelevant targets, it
will perform better with the close in FLARM traffic.

-Dave


On Fri, 22 Jul 2016 13:05:01 -0700, bythesea1234 wrote:

So 2 of us have FLARM CORE - and we put it in Stealth a long time ago
and then back to normal - but when we get about 1 or 2 miles apart the
other glider disappears - I can see 747's but can't see the other
glider? any suggestions? here is my config


$PFLAC,S,DEF $PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT2,71 $PFLAC,S,BAUD2,2 $PFLAC,S,NMEAOUT1,71
$PFLAC,S,BAUD1,2 $PFLAC,S,RANGE,65535 $PFLAC,S,VRANGE,500
$PFLAC,S,ADSBRANGE,65535 $PFLAC,S,ADSBVRANGE,65535
$PFLAC,S,PCASRANGE,7000 $PFLAC,S,PCASVRANGE,600 $PFLAC,S,MODEC,0
$PFLAC,S,OWNMODEC,0 $PFLAC,S,PCASCALIBRATION,30 $PFLAC,S,XPDR,2
$PFLAC,S,MODESALT,0 $PFLAC,S,PCASBEEP,1 $PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU1,0
$PFLAC,S,PCASPFLAU2,0 $PFLAC,S,AUDIOOUT,0 $PFLAC,S,AUDIOVOLUME,100
$PFLAC,S,ACFT,1 $PFLAC,S,PILOT,William Hanson $PFLAC,S,LOGINT,4
$PFLAC,S,GLIDERID,N723PJ $PFLAC,S,GLIDERTYPE,Pegase 101A
$PFLAC,S,COMPCLASS,Standard $PFLAC,S,COMPID,WH $PFLAC,S,PRIV,0
$PFLAC,S,NOTRACK,0

WH

On Friday, 22 July 2016 16:05:10 UTC-4, wrote:
So 2 of us have FLARM CORE - and we put it in Stealth a long time ago and then back to normal - but when we get about 1 or 2 miles apart the other glider disappears - I can see 747's but can't see the other glider? any suggestions?

I've had issues with my FLARM since putting the in stealth mode at the 2015 15m Nationals at Harris Hill. After the contest the range dropped considerably. This morning completely blew away my config by loading a flarmcfg.txt that only contained a single line;

$PFLAR,99


After that I put in a fresh config file generated using the flarm website and my ranges came back to what I was seeing before Elmira.

FWIW
Luke Szczepaniak

On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 7:25:31 PM UTC-7, Luke Szczepaniak wrote:
On Friday, 22 July 2016 16:05:10 UTC-4, wrote:
So 2 of us have FLARM CORE - and we put it in Stealth a long time ago and then back to normal - but when we get about 1 or 2 miles apart the other glider disappears - I can see 747's but can't see the other glider? any suggestions?

I've had issues with my FLARM since putting the in stealth mode at the 2015 15m Nationals at Harris Hill. After the contest the range dropped considerably. This morning completely blew away my config by loading a flarmcfg..txt that only contained a single line;

$PFLAR,99


After that I put in a fresh config file generated using the flarm website and my ranges came back to what I was seeing before Elmira.

FWIW
Luke Szczepaniak

#$PFAR,99 = Reboots the device, all settings will reset to default values,
#user configuration is lost
$PFLAR,99

Richard