Kurt, didn't you find a magnetic base omni-directional antenna that had about 25 db of gain? I thought you posted a link to it.
I have the 5 db rubber duckie antenna on both my transmitters, and use the same on the RX unit. The unit Cris gave me has the same. I have two receivers, one linked by bluetooth to my Android, and the second one has the LCD screen. I just got another HC-06 but am wondering if I should use both in close proximity to each other. The second unit could pair up with my laptop if they don't interfere with each other. I could use the Android to hunt down the rocket, and keep the LCD receiver as a base station in the truck with the laptop.
No,
Not 25db gain. It's a Chinese mag mount which btw doesn't have a strong enough magnet to drive around with.
It does seem to have decent range over the ground though. https://www.ebay.com/itm/HIGH-GAIN-..._Mobile_Broadband_Devices&hash=item233917e921
They say 9Dbi gain but take Chinese specs with a grain of salt. I believe this is more suited for a laptop base station
for flight recording. Having the antenna mounted to the roof of a vehicle might give it a little edge as the rocket descends closer to the ground. A patch antenna would take someone to point it at the rocket so if this or any
other Omni directional antenna gives good performance, would eliminate that task.
I plan to do exactly as you are doing and have to build a second B/T enabled receiver. Once the two devices are paired (say computer and EF receiver) one should be able to pair second receiver to an Android device nearby.
I unfortunately live in a lousy geographical area for launching high and am limited in being able to flight test when I want to. I look forward to other folks reports as I think Cris EF's would be just as good as the currently available
APRS trackers. The cost difference is astounding.
I believe someone reported flying to 13k with a duck on the transmitter and a wire on the receiver. That's impressive if true.
Kurt
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