bnicolette Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I would not expect more than 10nm range for the transmitter with a portable antenna. How much power does the Skyguard put out? And how would you know when not in range or your signal is not getting received by the ground station. With the antenna on top of the glareshield there is a lot shadowing for ground stations below and behind, specially on low wing planes. For this to work consistenly you will need a belly mounted antenna. José I'm not sure José but will find out as that is surely a valid concern. I will query them about that and also see how it works in action. Thankfully there is a 30 day money back guarantee so I don't really have much to lose. If it works though it sure would be a cost effective way to get ALL the radar traffic. Does anybody have any input on the power sockets? Can I have one installed in the baggage area? Or can I hardwire a portable unit in to the ships power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetdriven Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I'm not sure José but will find out as that is surely a valid concern. I will query them about that and also see how it works in action. Thankfully there is a 30 day money back guarantee so I don't really have much to lose. If it works though it sure would be a cost effective way to get ALL the radar traffic. Does anybody have any input on the power sockets? Can I have one installed in the baggage area? Or can I hardwire a portable unit in to the ships power? When I had my Skyradar dual band I really didnt like the cords and antennas on the glareshield. I was going to install a 12V socket in the rear hat shelf with a switch on the panel from the ship's power. you are going to have to remove the left sidewall panels and run wire to it. It can be done as a minor alteration and a log entry if your mechanic is cool with it. Then the GDL-39 came out, I sold the Skyradar and dropped the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnicolette Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I would not expect more than 10nm range for the transmitter with a portable antenna. How much power does the Skyguard put out? And how would you know when not in range or your signal is not getting received by the ground station. With the antenna on top of the glareshield there is a lot shadowing for ground stations below and behind, specially on low wing planes. For this to work consistenly you will need a belly mounted antenna. José Here is the response I got from SkyguardTWX: Brett: I personally tested your unit and it is outputting 31 watts. I field tested it at 30 miles out from our Local ground station and I was on the ground. It was working perfectly at this distance. Should Easily transmit 50 or 60 miles as you climb up To about 3000 ft. AGL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marauder Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I would not expect more than 10nm range for the transmitter with a portable antenna. How much power does the Skyguard put out? And how would you know when not in range or your signal is not getting received by the ground station. With the antenna on top of the glareshield there is a lot shadowing for ground stations below and behind, specially on low wing planes. For this to work consistenly you will need a belly mounted antenna. José Here is the response I got from SkyguardTWX: Brett: I personally tested your unit and it is outputting 31 watts. I field tested it at 30 miles out from our Local ground station and I was on the ground. It was working perfectly at this distance. Should Easily transmit 50 or 60 miles as you climb up To about 3000 ft. AGL. Wow! That sounds like a lot of wattage. And it is in the cockpit with you? Not mounted on a skin? I can see why they want it plugged in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piloto Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 Here is the response I got from SkyguardTWX: Brett: I personally tested your unit and it is outputting 31 watts. I field tested it at 30 miles out from our Local ground station and I was on the ground. It was working perfectly at this distance. Should Easily transmit 50 or 60 miles as you climb up To about 3000 ft. AGL. In direct line of sight the above correlates with the path loss equation. But you could esily loose 10dB or more due to airframe shadowing effect, thus reducing your range substantially when the antenna is on the glareshield. This why XPDR and DME antennas are on the belly and not on the glareshield. BTW is not only the shadowing effect but the lack of a large ground plane as that provided by the belly. José Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnicolette Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Was out flying a bit today and was able to try out the SkyguardTWX Transmitter (ADS-B Out Box). I was really impressed. It appears as though everything is working great and soon after I departed Washington County (KAFJ) I had traffic popping up all over but especially in my service volume which I believe is within 15nm and +- 3500 feet of my altitude. I was listening to the one aircraft going into Rostraver as he was flying the pattern and my depiction of him on Foreflight was right on! As he was turning downwind to base it appeared to be real time. Amazing. I found it hard to believe I was missing all this traffic before when I didn't have anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carusoam Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Bret, Interesting curved flight path depicted on your own ship... Or what is that curved blue line? Best regards, -a- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnicolette Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 Bret, Interesting curved flight path depicted on your own ship... Or what is that curved blue line? Best regards, -a- Yeah I was all over the place Anthony. It was bumpy coming home today. That line is the "track vector" and I have it set to 2 minutes. It shows if you maintain your current heading where you will be in "2 minutes" and your expected flight path. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnicolette Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 iPhone screen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bnicolette Posted June 12, 2013 Report Share Posted June 12, 2013 I was also very impressed with the AHRS on the Stratus 2 using the Horizon App. Very stable, smooth and reliable. A while back I was thinking of adding the Dynon unit for a back up and now I'm sure glad I didn't go down that road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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