KGPT setup

[hammack]

Here's the setup at KGPT.  The scanner is a Radio Shack Pro-90 using a home-made 2m ground plane antenna cut to aviation frequencies.

http://gotslack.org/hammack/kgpt

I have an Arrow Antenna j-pole in a box, waiting for the stars to align so I can get a mast erected.  Maybe it will end up in the attic, too...

The computer on the right handles the KGPT feed and is a 333 MHz Pentium running Slackware 10.0.  (The other computer is my "good" computer - an Athlon XP 1900+ running Slackware 12.2)

"Proud to be
Microsoft-free."

KD5IVL, Mississippi Gulf Coast

[EdGeneer]

How far from the field are you? Having a metal roof, I was forced, gladly, to put a j-pole outsude and high. Wished I could get about 6 more feet in hight, but its above the quarter wave dist from the metal.

If you can swing it, getting a pole outside and high should get you great reception, already receiving field ground traffic and the transmitters from the attic. Plus, it's alot more fun having a huge antenna attached to the side of your abode rather than hidden, I would think (huge grin)....

[Flyingnut]

Would the OSJ - Model OSJ 146/440 Dual Band J-Pole from Arrow Antennas be the one to choose for monitoring the aviation band, or would it need to be cut to the aviation frequency band?

[hammack]

The Arrow antenna I have is for 2m amateur radio (~144 MHz, ~19.5 in.) so is actually a little short for aviation frequencies (~125 MHz, ~22.5 in.) but seems to work fine for the scanner.

I'm about 9 miles from the airport, so with the homemade antenna in the attic I don't get great reception.  I've hooked up the Arrow j-pole in the attic and it seems to work better, even though it's a few inches short.  I hope to get it up on a mast soon, but I have a few house repairs that my wife feels are more important. 

[davidnduhe]

Hammack, do you have plans on getting the GPT feed back up? Thanks!

David

[hammack]

 The feed should be back up now.  I'm having problems with the antique computer I'm using, so there may be more outages until I get it replaced.  I'll try to do a better job of keeping an eye on it, though.