Comment on Trying (and failing) to receive IBP beacons on an SDR
bigfondue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
The problem might be your antenna, but it may just be the conditions right now. 14.100Mhz will have more consistent propagation than the higher frequencies.
I just went on KiwiSDR, which is a website that lets you access different SDRs around the world. I picked one of the stations in Japan and I wasn’t getting much of anything on the 20 meter band (14 Mhz range).
Check KiwiSDR. Just search for Japan and find the station that is closest to you. That will show you what you should be able to pick up if your set-up is working.
How big is you antenna? A dipole antenna works best when it is one half of the wavelength you are trying to receive. So you would want a 10m wide antenna for 14.100Mhz.
tiredofsametab@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
Thanks very much. I had a feeling antenna size was at least part of the problem there. I appreciate the help and tools. Thanks!
bigfondue@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
No problem and good luck! With your antenna now, you should be able to receive ADS-B, which is pretty cool. You can see what planes are flying overhead, how high they are etc.
tiredofsametab@fedia.io 3 weeks ago
So far no luck, but I only seem to get flights when they are going to/from the nearest airport to places south of me; everyone else is going around. I'm not sure how far the range is meant to be. I can very faintly see something on the frequency, but Dump1090 isn't catching anything.
I have some parts coming today to try a ~20m random wire antenna. I got 2x20m copper wire in case I need to do a counterpoise on the other side (which seems to be like 1/4 length (so 5m) of wire?).