Improve AM reception - ATC listening

[Librentez]

Hi !

First time on this forum ! I'm working on ATC listening project and I'm a bit struggling with quality !

Here is a GQRX screenshot :


Here is an output sample :
https://youtu.be/OfwCS7rsUrs

Is there a way to improve the quality ? Antenna, settings... ? Any ideas are welcome !

I'm using a RTL-SDR cheap dongle with the AM/FM antenna on my roof.
Listening VHF marine traffic is achieve with a great quality.

Thanks,

Ronan

[JEL]

I would suggest you try SDR# and see if you can get better results there.

Perhaps it won't make a difference with your dongle, but with the AirspyR2 the choice of software CAN make a big difference.

I personally get much better aviation-reception with SDR# than SDRangel.
I'm not sure why that is, but I suspect it has to do with how SDRangel controls the hardware (such as amplifiers etc)

Perhaps you might get similar differences even though you use a different dongle (they ARE called SDR's after all )

If passing aircraft (aircraft relatively close to you and/or at high altitudes) are loud with your current software and setup, then there is probably not much you can do.
Ground-stations are usually harder to pick up than aircraft at altitude.

[rtlsdrblog]

Build a proper antenna. Either a dipole or quarter wave ground plane sized for the airband.

Size calculators:

https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calcula ... calculator

https://m0ukd.com/calculators/quarter-w ... alculator/