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This month we focus on coverage and range!
As we discussed in our November newsletter, your antenna and how it is installed can have a big impact on how many aircraft your site receives. So, how do you know if your site is receiving the most aircraft that it can? The easy answer is to check the Coverage Distribution graphs on the "My ADS-B" page at flightaware.com (click "My ADS-B" at the top of any page). The "My ADS-B" page has lots of statistics that tell you how well your receiver is working. If you haven't checked out this feature before, you definitely should.
The coverage distribution graph (sometimes referred to as a "polar" graph or chart due to its format) shows the pattern of coverage around your site. The chart represents a "heat map" showing the sectors of the sky around your site from which you are receiving aircraft signals. The sectors with the most aircraft messages will be darker colored. In the first example below, we can see that most aircraft messages are from the red sector to the west of the site (in this example, it is likely that there is an airport in or near that sector due to the concentration of data in that one location). A less optimized site will not see see aircraft in all of the sectors. Most sites will in theory see planes over time in all sectors, however sites in isolated or rural locations with limited flights overhead may only ever see aircraft in certain sectors -- each site is unique!
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