ADS-B Antennas

Hi everyone!
In this video I take a look at a variety of ADS-B antennas hooked up to a Vector Network Analyser (VNA), to see what kind of SWR they have. SWR, or Standing Wave Ratio (correction to the video), is a measure of the efficiency of the antenna, the lower the SWR, or closer to 1:1 you can get, the better the antenna is on the frequency you're interested in, which for us here is 1090MHz.

The "spider" antenna is based on designs I found on https://discussions.flightaware.com/t...
The commercially made antenna mounted in the loft is a RADAR-200 colinear style antenna bought from Moonraker (UK) Ltd back in 2016.
3D printed stand for the PCB antenna https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:670...

If there are any antennas that you'd like to see tested, please let me know down in the comments.

Coming soon, a comparison of ADS-B receivers/dongles such as the FlightAware PRO stick, and a standard DVB-T receiver, and a look into some Low Noise Amplifiers (LNAs) for 1090MHz.

If you've got any suggestions on how the tests could be improved, please let me know down in the comments.

Thanks for watching!

Update 18/09/2024: I've been asked about some of the equipment in the video.
The AliExpress antenna with the coils is currently available at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
The SBS-3 looks to have been discontinued (from what I can tell, anyway), however Radioworld UK still has a second hand link (currently showing out of stock) which would give you an idea of what the unit looks like: https://www.radioworld.co.uk/second-h...
The digital video antenna cable came as a bundle with a DVB-T receiver, and that's something I'll be showing in my upcoming video on receivers: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32900...
The PCB antenna is currently available at https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10050...
The spider antenna can be made using the link to flightaware above.
I can't find the RADAR-200 colinear antenna I have in my loft space, however this is a similar one from Radioworld: https://www.radioworld.co.uk/sbs-3_ai...
The VNA I'm using in the video is available at https://amzn.eu/d/f7c5V17