Using a third party high gain antenna, the flightaware filter, (which I installed about a month ago, and also provided about a 10-15% boost), and about 50 feet of LMR 400 cable. Messages per second nearly doubled, and the range increased anywhere from 10-30% (depending on the direction). Instantly had an increase in range and in number of positions per second. I am not normally one to write reviews, but this thing is quite amazing. Judging by the Reviews on Amazon, others agree:
We have 5 Pro Sticks with filters as prizes.īut for just GBP £13,36 on Amazon, this has to be one of the best value DVB-T "dongle" available. I will publish detailed comparisons when I've gathered at least 48 hours data from the Pro Stick.Īnd watch out for our upcoming competition. My BaseStation is running off my SBS-3 using a different external antenna with masthead preamp. I also noticed that the Pro Stick is picking up aircraft flying into my area at least 20 seconds or earlier than they appear on BaseStation. I immediately noticed that my aircraft count and range had increased significantly, as too did the PiAware message count. Both are connected to the FlightAware ADS-B 1090MHz Band-pass SMA Filter, available from Amazon UK for GBP 15.73. In the meantime I will be running comparative tests against my current DVB-T SDR + FlightAware filter and will share the results here in a few days time.Ībout 2 hours ago I swapped my current DVB-T SDR for the Pro Stick. I've been fortunate to obtain a small quantity of Pro Sticks for prizes in a forthcoming Radarspotting competition, details to follow. Some useful info on the FlightAware forum: They're also available on eBay but with shipping charges from the USA. I think the initial supply has already sold out. The Pro Stick will be available through Amazon in a number of areas, including Europe. Clearly it hopes to encourage more PiAware usage and achieve greater ADS-B and MLAT coverage. FlightAware is selling the Pro Stick at cost with no added profit margin.
The Pro Stick has an SMA connector for use with most ADS-B antennae.įlightAware says it developed the Pro Stick to provide maximum ADS-B performance when used with its free PiAware software or any other device that works with a USB RTLSDR. A few days ago, FlightAware announced it's new Pro Stick, a low cost DVB-T SDR receiver with built-in amplifier.Ĭlaimed to be the first of its kind, offering significant range improvement over traditional USB SDR receivers and less expensive at US $16.95.