Personal Bests v2

[PilotKeeg]

Unfortunately, because Sentry had a little to much fun pushing the big red "delete" button on his desk, the first thread was lost

Distance (out and back)
1. Sentry ------------10.3 miles --------16.57 km
2. Danub ------------10.27 miles -------16.52 km
3. Chris R ------------7.55 miles --------12.16 km
4. man2000me ------7.5 miles ---------12.1 km
5. M'ck'y -------------7.4 miles ----------11.9 km
6. hugy --------------6.8 miles ----------11 km
7. Greedz ------------5.9 miles ----------9.5 km
8. IBCrazy -----------5.1 miles ----------8.2 km
9. Keith --------------3.8 miles -----------6.1 km
10. Pen ---------------3.6 miles ----------5.8 km.
10. Calidave ----------3.6 miles ---------5.8 km
12. kev.au ------------3.2 miles ----------5.2 km
13. iacei --------------3.1 miles ----------5 km
14. marcin.gala ------2.77 miles ---------4.5 km
15. aeryck ------------2.75 miles ---------4.4 km
16. Pilotkeeg ---------2.5 miles -----------4 km
17. Roberto -----------1.5 miles -----------2.4 km
18. h0tr0d ------------1 mile --------------1.6 km
19. durangoflyer -----.43 miles -----------.7 km (quad)
20. Blizzard1287 -----.22 miles -----------.36 km
21.
22.

Altitude (AGL)
1. Chris R ---------13,293ft ------4052m
2. Danub ----------10,748ft ------3275m
3. kev.au ----------9898ft --------3017m
4. Greedz ----------9400ft --------2865m
5. man2000me----9000ft --------2743m
6. marcin.gala ----6856ft --------2090m
7. Sentry ----------6700ft --------2042m
8. Pilotkeeg -------5000ft --------1524m
9. iacei ------------4921ft --------1500m
10. Pen ------------3145ft --------958m
11. Keith ----------3024ft --------921m
12. aeryck ---------1800ft --------548m
13. Calidave -------400ft... sure
14
15.

Ground Vehicles
1. Calidave -----.58 miles -----.93 km
2.
3.

[SENTRY]

Yeah --- sorry guys, too many mojitos. I'm in!

DISTANCE: 10.3 miles ALTITUDE: 6700feet (different video from D~Zee - will upload later)

10.3 MILES

View this video on Vimeo

[GregSilver]

sentry...why in the hell is your patch aiming DOWN?

[SENTRY]

sentry...why in the hell is your patch aiming DOWN?

Scale 10.3 miles out from base. Then scale only 6000 feet up at that distance. Now add that to the vertical beam-width of a 14dBi patch (50 degrees). That's 50 degrees coming out of the patch ---- now - 10 miles from there how tall is that vertical beam? The further you are away - the more you can point the antenna at the ground w/ 0 change in reception. It does look weird though - LOL.

[man2000me]

Man2000me:

Distance : 7.5miles
Altitude : 9000ft

[GregSilver]

Sentry, you are essentially putting your Fresnel Zone into the ground. you would be better off with the reverse thought and aiming it 20Deg UP

[SENTRY]

Sentry, you are essentially putting your Fresnel Zone into the ground. you would be better off with the reverse thought and aiming it 20Deg UP

Put your plane 5 miles out - let's say 2000 feet. Now grab your patch and point it as far down to the ground as you can w/out going 100% perpendicular. Then move it as far up as you can. Then tell me what the video image does. I'll need to know these 2 things...

1) @ what degree does video quality start to degrade on the way down?
2) @ what degree does it NOT get any better on the way up?

[GregSilver]

is this a "real world vs on paper" thing? Share your results... im too lazy to go test this and I havent flown 5 miles yet. I just want to add this though..... it goes against all writen logic about "aiming antennas" and Augustin-Jean Fresnel would be very upset.

[SENTRY]

I had direct LOS to my plane 10 miles out. Here is a picture for you.

LAUNCH ELEVATION: 906 ft
TARGET ELEVATION: 1001 ft
HIGHEST POINT BETWEEN LAUNCH and TARGET : 1131ft (ridge, 7.2miles out from launch)

DELTA: 225 FEET (IF MY PLANE WAS ON THE GROUND AT THE TARGET) But it was't - I was over 6k feet above launch at the distant end.




As you can see --- the highest point between my launch and my target is only 225feet higher than launch elevation. Imagine a patch w/ a 50 degree beam pointed PERFECTLY level with the ground, trying to hit a transmitter 10 miles out at 6000 feet. That is a TALL vertical beam. Even figuring in sidelobe losses, I am WELL inside the zone.

Picture the tx (which has direct LOS to the rx) tilted down (or up) - will it still have direct LOS? Yes.


It looks weird bc we (humans) only see the patch. We do not see the honking 50 degree beam coming out of it. Aesthetics aside, there is nothing to gain 10 miles out in this environment at the altitude I carried by changing the antennas position vertically.

[Chris R]

View this video on YouTube


View this video on YouTube