Author Topic: Potential NJ feed?  (Read 17713 times)

Offline cassidy1190

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Potential NJ feed?
« on: April 01, 2011, 03:14:52 PM »
I have noticed that with all the feeds in the NY/NJ area there is no coverage of McGuire RAPCON.  The service provided by the U.S. Air Force handles many flights between the NY and Philly metro areas basically covering all airports of central NJ, and operates in conjunction with the N90 facility.  Activity varies from departures and arrivals from international airports, to general aviation, to military aircraft.

Being that I live in Belmar, NJ, I would love provide the feed myself, but I don’t have the money or resources to put a nice antenna up high on the roof.  My attic discone only picks op the pilot transmissions.  If someone is in range, I think this would be a hot feed to add to the list.



Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2011, 11:56:19 AM »
Hey all, so I have decided to splurge on a diamond d130j discone and a contractor to properly mount it on my roof.  I will have a 10ft mast mounted to my chimney which already sits easily 30-40ft above the ground.  The cable run should be relatively short, as my receivers are on the second floor. I am hoping that I can pull in some of these stations, the farthest being 30 miles away. 

To any other listeners/feed providers, does this 30 ft range seem plausible with my type of setup?

Offline dave

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #2 on: April 06, 2011, 09:47:39 AM »
That may work well - contact me privately and we can review options.

Thanks!
Dave

Offline captkel

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2011, 09:49:18 AM »
Hey all, so I have decided to splurge on a diamond d130j discone and a contractor to properly mount it on my roof.  I will have a 10ft mast mounted to my chimney which already sits easily 30-40ft above the ground.  The cable run should be relatively short, as my receivers are on the second floor. I am hoping that I can pull in some of these stations, the farthest being 30 miles away. 

To any other listeners/feed providers, does this 30 ft range seem plausible with my type of setup?

Try that setup and see what happens. There are a lot of variables that can make it work or not.  You may find that you'll need a better antenna & coax plus maybe a pre amp and bandpass filter or traps and an antenna up higher. Good luck.
KEL :-D

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2011, 11:52:03 AM »
Yeah, I am really anxious to find out. The wait till Sunday is killing me! I am hoping that my less than 50 ft coax run of rg8x the surrounding flat terrain will be my saving grace.

Offline captkel

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2011, 12:19:15 PM »
Is it going to be UHF frequencies?

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2011, 10:20:39 PM »
UHF milair stuff would definitely be cool, I can already pick up some with an attic antenna.  My main focus though will be VHF.  I really hope I can pull in McGuire Approach and maybe even Atlantic City Approach so I can get a few new feeds online.

Offline Dan CZQM

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2011, 11:01:51 AM »
Good luck with the setup.  Will be having a look for it once it is up.

Dan

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2011, 01:11:11 PM »
Just an update on my feed status.  I have the antenna up and have been running into many snags.  First was a cable short in the connector, which I had the guy come back and resolder it.  Now the antenna receives great, but unfortunately the sensitivity on my scanner is extremely poor due to intermod from FM broadcast, at least I think, and probably other sources that I still don't know.

I have been looking into some filter options, but they are all so expensive, and I have no clue what is my primary source of interference.  On the other hand, if I don't use a filter, I basically wasted 500 bucks on the antenna install  :|

These I am told are excellent filters: http://www.parelectronics.com/scanner.php
I know there is a filter which basically blocks out everything but the civil airband, but I don't want to miss out on milair comms and everything else I listen too, which includes a very broad spectrum.

Just wondering if any of you in the Liveatc community have experienced similar problems and what steps you have taken to resolve them.

Offline MIAMIATC

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2011, 01:15:43 PM »
You may get some weak transmissions out of ACY and pilot only at that. I used to vacation at Seaside Heights and only got pilot stuff with an antenna mounted 20 feet up . I would stick to McGuire stuff UHF/VHF wise.

Offline captkel

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #10 on: April 28, 2011, 04:25:58 PM »
I’ve seen your posts on the R.R. forum. One problem is my location and interference issues are not the same as yours, however here is what worked for me. This set up is on my south feed (Miami Approach/Departure and Miami Center Bimini Sector) I have the PAR VHF Air band pass filter and a directional antenna (corner reflector) plus a VHF air band mast mounted pre amp and my coax is LMR 600. The antenna is mounted on a mast about 35 feet tall. I like to experiment /make my own antennas. I have had great success with the VHF air band Quagi design, also a directional antenna, so I decided to put that antenna on my north feed (Miami Center WPB RCAG) It’s at about the 30 foot level on the mast and it to has a VHF air band pass filter, etc. The stations I’m feeding are 30 to 35 miles away. The signal strengths vary during the day but usually average around a S5. I do get some intermittent power line noise and that looks like it will be hard for me to have it corrected. I have had good success with the UHF air band…but that’s another story.

KEL :-D

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2011, 06:54:30 PM »
Hey Captkel, I actually saw a post of yours on RR with pics of your quagi.  Very impressive!  I have done some homebrews myself, but wouldn't dare put them up on the roof.  I doubt they would hold up in some of the gusts we get here.

I ended up purchasing the HPN-30118 Combined Notch Filter from Scannermaster:
http://www.scannermaster.com/HPN_30118_Combined_Notch_Filter_p/24-531024.htm

I have read great reviews on these forums and RR alike.  I really like that it also filters out HF in addition to the FM broadcasts.  I did a quick limit search today and found some loud continuous transmission around 17 MHz, which may also be giving me trouble.  It sounded like TV audio for a Spanish channel. 

I just hope it’s not too good to be true.  After all it seems like I am getting more bang for my buck, as the PAR filter is more expensive and only takes care of FM.  I'm almost 100% sure that after I put on the FM filter I will find that I need a notch filter for 152-153 MHz, so I need to save all the money I can.  I know I must be getting terrible intermod from 3 pagers in this range as well, which sound like they are next door.

Offline captkel

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #12 on: April 29, 2011, 01:15:47 PM »
Good luck, I hope it works for you, keep us posted.

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2011, 11:48:33 PM »
Well I was right about two things.  The FM filter works great, and I can no longer here FM radio in the background.  Unfortunately I was also right about the pager intermod.  I just spent another 83 on a PAR filter to take care of that.

I gotta say I'm becoming extremely discouraged about this whole thing.  If this next filter doesn't take care of the problem I really don't feel comfortable spending more on another disappointment.  Also, If its not pagers and FM, I have no clue what else.  I suppose I could do some experimenting with a homemade coax stub filter for NOAA radio frequencies.  They are my next speculation.  I have two that come in quite strong.

I did catch a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel though yesterday.  It must have had something to do with the weather, or some other ideal conditions.  I was picking up JFK ground transmissions, JFK tower, and CAMRN and ROBER sectors all air and ground comms!!!  Still couldn't get McGuire though without the squelched turned all the way down...

Tell ya what though, with the amount of money I am throwing into this "learning process" I should be receiving college credit.   :roll:

Offline dave

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2011, 11:54:19 PM »
We all totally understand how discouraging it can be.  Some locations just make tough receive locations.

Have you tried some of the New York Center frequencies?

Check out:
118.975
125.325
127.175
133.050
134.550

and let us know how you make out.

If worse comes to worse and you decide to abandon this, I am sure one of us would be happy to buy the filters from you.  So don't fret about that part - you're doing all the right stuff.


Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #15 on: May 03, 2011, 12:31:01 AM »
Dave you make a good point.  You will all be the first to know if I decide to sell.  I get decent reception on 118.975, 125.325, and 127.175 even with an attic 1/4 wave groundplane.  My whole goal was to pull in McGuire and just improve my reception overall on the airband and beyond.

Progress is slow, but evident none the less.  Like I said, I can pull in what I never could before.  I just have to have the squelch turned all the way down.  After some time I am hopeful I will get it all figured out. 

Another problem I have is something I still cannot identify because it tends to come and go.  I feel like it could be power lines or something electrical inside the house.  I occaisonally will get this exremely noisy static on VHF around 124-130 MHz when fully squelched and nothing can get through it.  Other times is totally gone...go figure.

Offline klkm

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2011, 01:04:42 PM »
you can try to pick up ny ctr 128.3 one of the busiest sectors in ny so would be cool if you can pick that up.

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #17 on: May 03, 2011, 05:38:42 PM »
I know! that is one of the frequencies I am pushing for as well.  As with McGuire, it just depends on the day.  When the conditions are right though I can get 128.3 and 133.5 quite clearly, even better than McGuire.  Its especially interesting when the tankers out of McGuire are operating out in the MOAs. Today for some reason is awful on just about every frequency.  I really just want to get to a point where I can listen to these stations without having the squelched turned all the way down.

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #18 on: May 04, 2011, 03:28:17 PM »
Hey guys I found out what was causing the electrical noise on AM.  I narrowed it down to the fluorescent light fixture on top of my fish tank in the next room.  When I shut off the lights the noise goes away...so now what?  I need the lights to be on for the tank to survive.  I have heard about chokes before but am not sure if they are the right fix or how they should be used.

Offline dave

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2011, 10:51:51 AM »
Hey guys I found out what was causing the electrical noise on AM.  I narrowed it down to the fluorescent light fixture on top of my fish tank in the next room.  When I shut off the lights the noise goes away...so now what?  I need the lights to be on for the tank to survive.  I have heard about chokes before but am not sure if they are the right fix or how they should be used.

There are some RFI filters that will reduce or eliminate the noise.  Can you post the brand name and model of the light here?  I will dig up some filter model numbers that have proven to be good.

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2011, 11:27:45 AM »
Here is the Solarmax HO light fixture: http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/DB-ADB42324.html
Let me know if you need more info, I have the manual here.

Also, right now there are some guys putting up a roof down the street and I am getting almost identical noise from their air compressor and the same goes for lawn mowers and just about any other type of similar equipment.  Will this type of RFI filter help with that as well?

Offline dave

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #21 on: May 05, 2011, 11:29:54 AM »
No, it will help with choking things you generate (at their source) but stuff that is outside is radiated and almost impossible to get rid of by conventional means.

Offline cassidy1190

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Re: Potential NJ feed?
« Reply #22 on: May 05, 2011, 11:51:16 AM »
Ah okay that makes sense, because from what I understand about how to use them is one would go on the power cord coming from the light, and if need be another on the coax near the back of my scanner.