LiveATC Discussion Forums

Air Traffic Monitoring => Feed Outage/Status Reports => Topic started by: bluecrewfan08 on January 03, 2010, 06:35:53 PM

Title: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bluecrewfan08 on January 03, 2010, 06:35:53 PM
Unfortunately, for the next 7-8 weeks or so, I am going to have to bounce back and forth between living in Los Angeles , and living/working on a construction project outside of San Jose del Cabo, Baja Mexico.
  I can not commit enough time to keeping the feed up consistently, while being away from my home most of the week. Between internet issues, computer problems, stuck ATIS and many more issues, it just won't stay up by itself(unattended).

If anyone is able/interested in feeding KLAX in the interim, or for good, please step up. It is a great airport to monitor, and the people of this site deserve it.

Rob
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on January 03, 2010, 07:36:36 PM
Aw man, that's  a shame.

Thanks for hosting it for the time... hope to listen to it soon.

Amsterdam/JFK, here I come.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Squawk 7700 on January 04, 2010, 10:50:26 PM
Thanks Rob for providing LAX. It was a pleasure listening to all the air traffic Los Angeles tower handles. I understand the maintenance of such feeds is sometimes difficult and your efforts were much appreciated! Good luck in your ventures!
Ken  :-)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 05, 2010, 12:30:24 AM
I would love to host an LAX feed, but have not been able to get it working to my satisfaction.  I have what I think is a great location just north of 24R on Sepulveda Blvd., but the laptop I was using to test the feed just puts out too much noise.  Even without the laptop plugged in, the sound on my scanner is not nearly as nice as what Rob's feed sounded like.  An outdoor antenna and/or a different laptop would probably solve the problems, but I don't see any way to set up an outside antenna, and that laptop is all I have available.  We have very limited space in our store, so I need to keep the footprint as small as possible, while at the same time, the scanner needs to stay where it is, because we leave it on for our customers to hear.  I have tried a couple of homemade antennas with no significant improvement.

It could also be that my old Radio Shack scanner isn't doing so well any more.  Maybe someone could lend me a decent scanner that I could test with to see if that would help.

If anyone could step in with some technical advice and/or equipment, I'd be happy to give it another go.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on January 05, 2010, 03:16:50 AM
I have a spare Uniden Bearcat BC350C that might as well be brand new that I'm willing to lend though I'm a bit uncomfortable giving something that cost me about $100 to a stranger on the internet  :|
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: lameduck on January 05, 2010, 02:46:28 PM
Rob,

thanks for providing LAX for such a long time. It was a pleasure tuning in. Good luck for your job! 

lameduck
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 05, 2010, 04:19:35 PM
I have a spare Uniden Bearcat BC350C that might as well be brand new that I'm willing to lend though I'm a bit uncomfortable giving something that cost me about $100 to a stranger on the internet  :|

Well, I would feel the same, though the scanner that's now running the KBUR feed is one that was given to me by a friend I met on a DXing list and have never met in person  :-D

At this point I am really just looking to test out another scanner to see if it would produce better results than the one I have, and maybe some help with antenna experimentation.  If the new scanner worked better, then maybe we could work something out.  I am not in a position myself to buy anything right now, but maybe Dave or other people interested in the LAX feed could help out.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: joeyb747 on January 06, 2010, 02:57:32 PM
Thanks Rob for the great feed...truly one of my favs... :cry:
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: uplink on January 06, 2010, 10:18:09 PM
Brian, get your hands on an old Radio Shack PRO-136, best airband receiver out there, and less than $100 bucks! out-performs the more expensive scanners in selectivity and sensitivity on aircraft, Uniden built it for Radio Shack and it's hotter than heck for aircraft.   Just build a simple 1/2 wave dipole will work best, 22 inches on each element.  No balun needed if you use 75 ohm coax (such as RG6 Quad Satellite Coax.)  You have a great location, you can do it!

I would love to host an LAX feed, but have not been able to get it working to my satisfaction.  I have what I think is a great location just north of 24R on Sepulveda Blvd., but the laptop I was using to test the feed just puts out too much noise.  Even without the laptop plugged in, the sound on my scanner is not nearly as nice as what Rob's feed sounded like.  An outdoor antenna and/or a different laptop would probably solve the problems, but I don't see any way to set up an outside antenna, and that laptop is all I have available.  We have very limited space in our store, so I need to keep the footprint as small as possible, while at the same time, the scanner needs to stay where it is, because we leave it on for our customers to hear.  I have tried a couple of homemade antennas with no significant improvement.

It could also be that my old Radio Shack scanner isn't doing so well any more.  Maybe someone could lend me a decent scanner that I could test with to see if that would help.

If anyone could step in with some technical advice and/or equipment, I'd be happy to give it another go.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 12, 2010, 09:11:26 PM
I have actually had 2 offers of scanners, as well as some cash and advice.  I also managed to dig up another PC that I can use, the same kind I'm using at KBUR.  This will work much better than the laptop that was putting out too much noise.  This is not a project that will be completed imminently, but the resources are coming together, so we will give it our best shot.

Our store is rather small, and despite the great location near the airport, it will be a challenge to figure out where to put everything so that it is out of the way, but still works well.

I will try to keep everyone informed of my progress.

Brian
Your KBUR (and hopefully KLAX soon) feeder.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 21, 2010, 01:52:24 PM
Here is the latest update on KLAX:

Yesterday I received a scanner from Rob, so last night I went out to the store to try a few things.  I hooked everything up and the results were not appreciably different from my Radio Shack scanner.  The sound is ok, but there is definitely a fair amount of static in the background of most transmissions.  Listening to this right out of the scanner is not so bad, but in my experience, when you have that level of noise, the compression artifacts will make the feed sound pretty lousy.  I wandered around the store, plugging the scanner in to various outlets (while hooked up to the whip), and the results were pretty uniform.

On the plus side, I brought in the PC that I had set up, and powered it up next to the scanners.  It did not add to the noise, unlike the laptop I was using before, which made things unlistenable.

I tried a few things antenna-wise.  First I tried my twinlead J-Pole.  This antenna simply doesn't work well.  I switched to the small telescoping whip we currently use on our Radio Shack scanner, and it worked better than the J-Pole (though still not great).  Obviously I did something wrong when I made that thing.

I brought my homemade ground-plane antenna with me, but unfortunately the main element broke off when I put it in the car, so I was not able to try it out (well, actually I did try it, but the result was the equivalent of no antenna, which was not unexpected).  Incidentally, as I was heading out the door with the ground-plane antenna, my wife made it quite clear that she did not want that thing in the store.  Aside from the fact that she runs the store, so she does get to make such decisions, she really is right in that we do not have any place to put it - even if it does work well.  Last time I tried it with the Radio Shack, it wasn't much better than the whip.

So here is the bottom line.  I can try feeding what I am able to receive, but I don't think it will sound nearly as good as what Rob was getting.  Of course, something is better than nothing, so we can go forward and see how everyone likes what they hear.  I am starting to believe that our store may as well be a faraday cage.  The windows are all covered with metallic film, and the walls are red brick (likely with rebar embedded inside).  If anyone can recommend an antenna that can be easily hidden, but can pull in the signals better than what we have now, then I'd love to hear about it.  I guess I am really surprised at how little difference my two homemade antennas made compared to the whip.  Now that I know where Rob lives, I am really surprised that he had such a great sounding feed when I am probably 2 miles closer to the airport, and can't get it to sound nearly as good.

Any antenna advice is welcome.

Brian
Your KBUR Feeder
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Chananya Freedman on January 21, 2010, 02:09:30 PM
Hey Brian,

Please refresh my memory. You can't put an antenna outside or on the roof? Would the store next door be willing to help with that?
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 21, 2010, 05:05:27 PM
We are on the ground floor of a 2 story building.  There is no easy way to put up an external antenna.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Squawk 7700 on January 21, 2010, 10:06:39 PM
For the best signal to noise ratio, an external antenna will be your best bet. There are aviation antennas out there like the indoor antenna by DPD Productions; http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_vhf_air.html#vhfairblade
but I'm guessing if a signal is weak to begin with, such as inside a room, it's not going to improve things very much? You can try walking around the room with your radio in one hand and your antenna in the other and try to find the "sweet spot", but often times it may not be in the most desirable location?

One technique I use for antenna placement and alignment is to monitor ATIS, since it's constantly broadcasting and watch the signal level meter or listen for the best audible signal thru earphones. Just experiment. :-)

Good luck on your quest for good reception!

LAX ATIS 133.8 Mhz

Ken
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bluecrewfan08 on January 24, 2010, 05:10:51 PM
Brian,
  At this point I'm convinced it's just merely your inside location/antenna.

Do you have a wifi connection at your shop?  How about taking your laptop outside and using a hand held scanner, just stand out on the sidewalk. I bet your reception will be MUCH better. I think line of site and a good outside antenna are critical.

Now as to the outside antenna..???  Tough situation. Too bad you aren't closer to the Melody. They have ton's of satellite dish's and antenna on their roof. 

Rob
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on January 25, 2010, 01:38:21 PM
Brian,
  At this point I'm convinced it's just merely your inside location/antenna.

Do you have a wifi connection at your shop?  How about taking your laptop outside and using a hand held scanner, just stand out on the sidewalk. I bet your reception will be MUCH better. I think line of site and a good outside antenna are critical.

Now as to the outside antenna..???  Tough situation. Too bad you aren't closer to the Melody. They have ton's of satellite dish's and antenna on their roof. 

Rob

Yeah, we are just a couple doors down from the Melody Bar but they are in a different building.

I don't have a hand-held but I did wander around the store and plugged in to various outlets to see if I could find a sweet spot.  No luck.

I do have wifi, so I suppose we could remotely locate everything, but access is important in case we need to reboot a PC or whatever.  I was also looking at this antenna for indoor use:

http://www.jpole-antenna.com/2009/10/11/the-airband-j-pole/

But I'm not sure if it would work any better than the ones I have tried.  It is less expensive than the one from DPD.  Has anyone ever used this one indoors?

At this point I'm getting discouraged.  Maybe we should ask Melody Bar if they would host it.  I could donate the PC, and Dave could put the scanner on loan to them.  Then we'd just have to get an antenna and get it all installed (I'm assuming they have some form of Internet access we could tap into - I'm not sure if my wifi would go that far).

Or maybe In & Out would do it in exchange for free advertising.  Their location is even better.

At this point I think I will try to get the PC connected to the wifi so that I can feed what I am getting.  It's better than nothing.  If people are happy with it, great.  If not, I will be happy to help another feeder get things set up in a better spot.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: m50 on January 25, 2010, 03:22:15 PM
Why dont you get in touch with Countryman and McDaniel...they have a building at runway 25 right LAX...they already host two fine webcams from the building giving excellent coverage to  runway 25 achivity.They  might be prepared to help out..m50
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: highflyyer on January 26, 2010, 09:58:31 PM
Why dont you get in touch with Countryman and McDaniel...they have a building at runway 25 right LAX...they already host two fine webcams from the building giving excellent coverage to  runway 25 achivity.They  might be prepared to help out..m50
About the webcams..  http://cargolaw.com/lax_webcam.html
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bluecrewfan08 on January 27, 2010, 08:25:52 PM
Interesting.  I have always felt that their webcam was  of pretty poor quality, and hardly "live". Not sure what the delay is, but it's substantial.

Rob
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: highflyyer on January 27, 2010, 08:34:59 PM
well there is also this cam, which is streaming live 24/7 on LAX. I watch it all the time with ATC and its just awesome. No delay.  :-)

http://media.myfoxla.com/live/lax/
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on January 27, 2010, 10:18:29 PM
Interesting.  I have always felt that their webcam was  of pretty poor quality, and hardly "live". Not sure what the delay is, but it's substantial.

Rob

Its not really delayed... the camera refreshes every 8 seconds or so. It also gets stuck every now and then but its fixed within a few days.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Unbeliever on January 31, 2010, 01:26:48 AM
I feed KEMT, I have an external antenna and just picked up another scanner. I may be able to do KLAX as well.

Details at http://www.liveatc.net/forums/feeders-forum/what-other-socal-feed-to-run/

--Carlos V.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Unbeliever on January 31, 2010, 08:41:01 PM
I can get North and South complex aircraft in the air and on the ground, and North Tower comes in strong.  South tower comes in and is intelligible, but the SNR is rather low.  It must be somewhere else and behind a building from me.

I can also get both halves of:

124.5 Zuma
128.5 Stadium
124.9 Downe

I'm in Altadena and am actually 9.5 miles from the KEMT transmitters, but 1000 feet higher.  For the LAX transmitters (well, at least the tower, I don't know where the transmitters are), I'm 23 miles, 1200 feet higher.

Also, LAX tower seems to swap transmitters.  Saturday, North tower was the good one.  Sunday, it was South Tower.

I can also get 123.025, the Helicopter basin CTAF.

--Carlos V.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on February 04, 2010, 01:00:51 AM
Any news/updates regarding the feed?
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on February 05, 2010, 02:35:15 AM
Any news/updates regarding the feed?
Not really.  I was out of town for a few days, and in any case I still need a wifi adapter to get the PC connected to the Internet.  Someone offered a couple of options and I need to get back to him, but I'm still catching up from the trip.

Hopefully in the next week or two I will have something going.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ManagerJosh on February 05, 2010, 04:48:04 AM
Just curious, how close do you need to be to pick up KLAX Tower?
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Unbeliever on February 06, 2010, 11:53:22 PM
Looks like someone else picked it up, but I won't be able to do LAX in good conscience.  Over the week I had good days and bad days on both transmitters.  It wasn't very consistent.  I guess 21 miles is too far, even with the altitude.   It looks like my reception is affected by who parks next to the transmitter.

I'll listen to the approach sectors for a while.  Or punt and try the basin Helicopter CTAF.

--Carlos V.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on February 08, 2010, 12:15:18 AM
Just curious, how close do you need to be to pick up KLAX Tower?

Apparently it's not a question of how close, since our store is practically underneath the approach to 24R, and reception is marginal.  I think it's a combination of our location on the first floor of a 2 story building, and the metallic film on all of the windows.  An outdoor antenna would probably work spectacularly well, but it's just not possible from our location.

Just for the record, Dave is working behind the scenes to come up with something better and more permanent for KLAX, and I have promised to help however I can. 

Brian
Your KBUR feeder
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bluecrewfan08 on February 10, 2010, 10:16:54 PM
Brian,
  Do you know what Dave has in store? Another feeder off site?  Or something on the LAX property? Perhaps I can donate my antenna.  Or maybe just hold on to it till April, and try the feed again when I am home?

Hope things work out well.

Rob
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on February 11, 2010, 09:11:44 PM
Brian,
  Do you know what Dave has in store? Another feeder off site?  Or something on the LAX property? Perhaps I can donate my antenna.  Or maybe just hold on to it till April, and try the feed again when I am home?

Hope things work out well.

Rob

Another feeder somewhere in the area.  He said he's been playing phone tag.  Next time I'm at the store I will record an MP3 sample of what I get, and Dave will listen to it and see if it's worth doing anything from our store.  I offered my PC as a donation - it's a dog, but still good enough for running a feed (it's pretty much identical to what I'm using at KBUR), and it's already configured and ready to go.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: dave on February 13, 2010, 10:06:23 AM
There is someone right on the field that I am trying to work with - still playing email and phone tag.  May take another week to arrange a meeting.

We also have an interesting feed coming up near LAX - a helo feed.  One of the active helicopter pilots in the area is going to run it.  The location where it runs might be able to host some SOCAL feeds and/or a backup LAX Tower feed as well.

More news as it's made.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ManagerJosh on February 22, 2010, 06:11:17 AM
Any luck Dave? :D
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on February 23, 2010, 01:57:31 AM
I sent a sample to Dave of what I can receive at our location, and he thinks it sounds good, so we are going to go forward with setting it up.  A volunteer is sending me a USB wifi dongle, so once I can get it set up in Linux, we should be ready to go. 

Don't expect the feed to be live and published for a little while - first I have to get out to our store and get it configured, which could take some time, and then I'm sure Dave will want to run in test mode for a while to make sure it's stable and sounds good.

Here's a link to our location in case anyone is interested:

http://maps.google.com/places/us/ca/los-angeles/s-sepulveda-blvd/9100/-tarpy-tailors?gl=us (http://maps.google.com/places/us/ca/los-angeles/s-sepulveda-blvd/9100/-tarpy-tailors?gl=us)

As you can see, we're quite close to the airport.  I am hopeful that the feed will work well.

Brian
Your KBUR feeder (and hopefully KLAX soon)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Chananya Freedman on February 23, 2010, 02:30:13 PM
Thanks for setting this up. I look forward to LAX again.  :mrgreen:

Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: cateyes_777 on February 23, 2010, 03:24:39 PM
WOW!!! All sounds too complicated for me.... but am very grateful for all working on this, can't wait!  :-)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on February 23, 2010, 07:00:42 PM
Good to hear it'll be going up soon. Hope the quality isn't THAT bad and the volume not super low.

What happened to the guy Dave was talking with?
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: speedotann on February 24, 2010, 11:51:38 PM
I can't wait for it to be back up! It is very fun to watch the planes that are being talked to! Thanks for doing this for us!

B
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 06, 2010, 01:30:23 AM
My uncle has a store in santa monica close to the santa monica airport, and depending on how an external antenna is mounted, he offered the possibility of mounting it to the antenna and hosting a feed.  I do not know how good reception is, however, as a former airline employee who is going for an ATC-CTI degree, these feeds are really interesting.  I'd be extremely happy to help out if you guys could tell me exactly what is needed.

His store isnt as close as bleyton's store, but if we can get an external antenna up in the air, i could probably get it set up.

Location of store: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Got+Pet+food&sll=33.989772,-118.393478&sspn=0.0928,0.222988&ie=UTF8&hq=Got+Pet+food&hnear=&ll=33.985645,-118.390732&spn=0.092804,0.222988&z=13
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: simonlam33 on March 06, 2010, 11:47:12 AM
I can't wait for it, thanks to all who volunteered to set it up!   :-)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 07, 2010, 02:30:48 AM
Latest update:  I have the computer and wifi card at my office.  I've been trying to get the wifi working, but no luck so far.  I have a couple of ideas I will try, and if I can't get it to work, I will get another wifi card that is known to work with Linux and we will get this thing working.  I don't want to waste a lot of time playing around - I know there are a lot of KLAX listeners suffering from withdrawal.

As I have told Dave, I just want to get a good feed going.  If I can do it from our store, great, but if someone else has a better location, I'm happy to help them get it going too.  I can give up the computer, and Dave has let me borrow a scanner, so we have everything we need except for a good location and someone to babysit the equipment.  I'm just hung up because it's too hard to run a wire from the router to the computer.

rootbear75:  I have a feeling you won't get great reception from that location - at least not from the ground-based transmissions.  There are some hills in the way.  Can you try with a handheld to see what you get?

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 07, 2010, 03:23:08 AM
how much is a handheld? kinda strapped for cash so if i could possibly borrow someone's one day i'd go and look.

Grandmother also has some apartment buildings near the 10/405 interchange. I MIGHT be able to see if we can hang an antenna on the side of the building. Roof mounting is not going to happen i've already been told.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 08, 2010, 05:21:44 PM
I think I have all of the parts assembled to get the feed going from my store.  I got a wireless bridge that seems to work well, so next time I am at the store I will hook it all up and we will get a test feed going.

Then we will see how good/bad it sounds and we can take it from there.  But at least we will have something to listen to at KLAX.

Brian
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on March 08, 2010, 07:57:12 PM
Haha... LAX Tower withdrawal symptoms. Well at least I'm coping a bit better now, having not heard LAX for a month or so.

Hope to listen to it soon.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 08, 2010, 09:10:29 PM
I think I have all of the parts assembled to get the feed going from my store.  I got a wireless bridge that seems to work well, so next time I am at the store I will hook it all up and we will get a test feed going.

Then we will see how good/bad it sounds and we can take it from there.  But at least we will have something to listen to at KLAX.

Brian
I hopw its good. LAX is on the list of possible facilities i want to work at so i'd like to give it a listen.  I'll still let you know about the quality from my uncle's store as soon as i scrounge up some money to grab a handheld from radioshack.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 11, 2010, 12:18:08 PM
Well, the long wait is over.  KLAX is back up again from our store, and Dave has wasted no time in listing it, so please tune in and enjoy.

I realize that this feed does not sound as good as the old one, but this is the best I have been able to do, given our location and inability to mount an outdoor antenna.

I think that this occasion deserves a bit of a plug (hopefully Dave won't mind).

Our business is Tarpy Tailors, and we sell uniforms (all kinds, but primarily for pilots, thus the location right next to LAX).  The business was established over 75 years ago by Dee Tarpy, who was a pilot, and felt that he could produce a better uniform than what was out there at the time.  Since then the store has been owned and operated by a couple of generations of family, and 2 years ago my wife and I purchased it from Dee's daughter and son-in-law.

The store is something of a museum, with many vintage photos on the walls, model airplanes, and a large collection of pilots' wings on display.  We invite everyone to stop in and say hello to my wife, who runs the store.  If you need any uniform items, we hope you will think of us. 

Brian
Your KBUR and KLAX feeder
http://www.tarpytailors.com (http://www.tarpytailors.com)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 11, 2010, 01:09:48 PM
I might stop in to see how the feed is set up, in case i might get a location to another airport whether LAX or other. Listening now, but i dont hear anything. Might just be no one is talking (In between banks)
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: speedotann on March 11, 2010, 03:34:35 PM
Thanks for getting  it up again. I was going nuts without LAX!!

Thanks Again

B
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 11, 2010, 04:50:27 PM
I might stop in to see how the feed is set up, in case i might get a location to another airport whether LAX or other. Listening now, but i dont hear anything. Might just be no one is talking (In between banks)

There is not much to see - just a scanner with a whip antenna, a cable, and an old beat up Dell running Linux.  They are hiding behind a display case.  There isn't even a monitor or keyboard attached to the PC.

I have done 2 of these setups now, both running Ubuntu Linux on obsolete hardware, so if anyone needs help with that kind of installation, I am more than happy to help.  I already put together a step-by-step guide to installing the software, so just ask, and I'll send it along.

Brian
Your KBUR and KLAX feeder.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: ARMEDnPISSED on March 11, 2010, 09:51:54 PM
Its good to hear LAX Tower again. Thanks for hosting it.

Is there any word on that helo feed?
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 12, 2010, 03:01:54 AM
I went down, you have quite and impressive store there lol. liked the case of wings.
The lady there told me about the flight path museum, and that was great.

Suggestion though: Possibly try suctioning an antenna to the storefront windows? might get better reception....
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 12, 2010, 11:44:40 AM
I got a notification by email (I like that feature a lot, Dave) that the KLAX feed went down about 4:00 AM.  I have no idea what's up with that, but I will have my wife check it out when she gets there.

rootbear75:  Thanks for the kind remarks.  I don't think a suction cup antenna will do much - I tried a j-pole taped to the window and it was no better than the whip.  I think the window film is metallic, and it is shielding the signals.

ArmedNPissed:  At the moment we are just going to feed the N and S towers.  Later we may try adding another feed for other stuff.

Brian
Your KBUR and KLAX feeder
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 12, 2010, 12:03:19 PM
rootbear75:  Thanks for the kind remarks.  I don't think a suction cup antenna will do much - I tried a j-pole taped to the window and it was no better than the whip.  I think the window film is metallic, and it is shielding the signals.


Brian
Your KBUR and KLAX feeder

No way you could run a wire to the outside of the store then mount it on the front of the store?
stick it towards the side so it's inconspicuous (sp?) could work.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: bleyton on March 12, 2010, 02:34:50 PM
No way you could run a wire to the outside of the store then mount it on the front of the store?
stick it towards the side so it's inconspicuous (sp?) could work.

Not without drilling a hole in something, and I really don't want to go there.  The landlord is nice, but I doubt they are that nice.  Besides, it's hard to be inconspicuous with a storefront on Sepulveda Blvd.

Brian
Your KBUR and KLAX feeder
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: highflyyer on March 12, 2010, 06:04:28 PM
Thanks a lot for getting LAX up again, you saved my life :roll: :mrgreen:
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: Squawk 7700 on March 12, 2010, 08:19:07 PM
Thanks for the LAX feed. Nice to hear it again.  :-D

Ken
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: rootbear75 on March 13, 2010, 01:53:43 AM
Now I just had another idea about the possibly mounting of an antenna in the corner of the window. They make antennas with window contacts...... i dont know if it would work :/
Just another of many ideas i have in my head.
See pic:
I have 2 possible ideas.

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2mmxxt0.jpg)

I mean, its fine how it is now, im just thinking that this MIGHT get clearer reception :/
I dont' know what would be involved in this setup.

Also: there is no drilling involved in the second pic. I see car's that have windshield mounted antennas with a cord going thru the windshield... I could be wrong.
Title: Re: KLAX will be down indefinetly. Future status unknown
Post by: highflyyer on March 13, 2010, 10:14:38 PM
And down.