best pre-built stratux?

korben88

korben88

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It seems there are a few options available for a pre-built stratux unit. Some have 2 antennas some have one.

I would built my own, but I'm computer dumb when it comes to that stuff and I'm sure I would get a better product if someone else did it.

So who in your opinion has the best plug and play version?
 
You might want to look at pingBuddy, not quite a Stratux, not quite a Stratus.
 
korben88 said:
It seems there are a few options available for a pre-built stratux unit. Some have 2 antennas some have one.

I would built my own, but I'm computer dumb when it comes to that stuff and I'm sure I would get a better product if someone else did it.

So who in your opinion has the best plug and play version?
Click to expand...

Buy the parts yourself...and have some fun...its absurdly easy!!!
 
asicer said:
You might want to look at pingBuddy, not quite a Stratux, not quite a Stratus.
Click to expand...

That looks pretty cool. It seems the reception could be questionable without the external antennas, such as you'd see on others, like Flightbox. I wonder how it is.
 
I don't know how it can be done with one antenna. Mine has two (one for each radio) of drastically different lengths.

The kit is painlessly easy to assemble. It's just plugging in USB ports and screwing things together (antennas to case, card to case, etc...). Took a whopping five minutes.
 
DrewG said:
That looks pretty cool. It seems the reception could be questionable without the external antennas, such as you'd see on others, like Flightbox. I wonder how it is.
Click to expand...

I wonder about that too. I suppose the tradeoff is that the small size allows you to position it in more places than the much bulkier Stratux.
 
flyingron said:
I don't know how it can be done with one antenna. Mine has two (one for each radio) of drastically different lengths.

The kit is painlessly easy to assemble. It's just plugging in USB ports and screwing things together (antennas to case, card to case, etc...). Took a whopping five minutes.
Click to expand...
Actually, if you use the antenna that was originally provided with the SDR (or any of the antennas that are sold for the stratux project), you can use a pigtail y-splitter to connect the two SDRs to a single antenna, and it'll pick up both frequencies. Granted, the reception might not be top notch, but from what everyone else has been saying, its works good'nuff for govn't work (as they say). If you're part of the slack group, you could ask about it, as it hasn't been discussed in much detail for some time now.
 
vkhosid said:
Buy the parts yourself...and have some fun...its absurdly easy!!!
Click to expand...

flyingron said:
I don't know how it can be done with one antenna. Mine has two (one for each radio) of drastically different lengths.

The kit is painlessly easy to assemble. It's just plugging in USB ports and screwing things together (antennas to case, card to case, etc...). Took a whopping five minutes.
Click to expand...

This is the one I'm looking at I can deal with a kit. As far as buying the individual pieces, no stinking way I'm a lazy sob and would rather everything just show up in a nice neat package.
 
I bought this one:
upload_2017-1-11_7-12-52.png
It works great and was under$200 on ebay. I didn't need a GPS, but I did need a battery, so I bought the Stratux without a GPS (which then doesn't have a battery) and then bought the battery afterward.
I just used it on a 5-hour-each-way cross country, and it was the first time the battery died, after about 4 hours. I just plugged it into the lighter after that.
 
korben88 said:
This is the one I'm looking at I can deal with a kit. As far as buying the individual pieces, no stinking way I'm a lazy sob and would rather everything just show up in a nice neat package.
Click to expand...

For the record, I bought all the pieces "individually" on amazon, and got same-day shipping. They arrived by 8pm that same night, and by 8:15 everything was good to go. For me, half the fun was assembling the unit itself. That way I could at least work out the logic of how/why it works in my own head. To each is own, though....
 
I only use the one antenna and get fine reception. It is remarkably easy. Mine plugs into my planes 12v cigarette lighter through a USB adapter.

I made it a little more difficult by getting a second SD card with basic Raspien and a wireless keyboard. Now I use it on travel and hook it up to the hotel TV to serf the web. The wifi chip gets the hotel internet and an HDMI cable connects to the TV.
 
(Disclosure - I'm the founder of Open Flight Solutions, maker of FlightBox)

So here's the deal with a single antenna feeding a dual-band system... When you split an RF (radio) signal without amplifying it, you essentially send half of the energy to each of the two receivers. (Actually, somewhat less than half but only a by a small amount.) This reduces the range of reception. If you're starting out with a really strong signal (like from a belly-mounted DME / transponder antenna) you're probably ok. If you're starting out from a rubber duck antenna largely surrounded by aluminum airplane, you're probably not ok.

Yes, the second antenna is ugly. But it's also going to give you much better results.
 
The original appareo stratus 1 is around $180-200 used on eBay. Mine is still working well.
 
hish747 said:
I would either build my own (it's a lot of fun and not hard at all) or go with the Flightbox:

https://www.openflightsolutions.com/flightbox/

They have lots of great accessories like remote antenna mounts, which I ordered despite building my own box.
Click to expand...

I built my own Stratux, but bought the remote-mount antenna kit from Open Flight Solutions. Very happy with it, though I still haven't figured out the best way to mount the whole thing in my new plane.
 
I have a complete pre-built one with 3D case I could sell to you, it works great. Don't need it anymore (have GTX345).
 
It is crazy easy to assemble. If you can assemble an IKEA lamp and plug it in then you can do this.

Here's a parts list:

Motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CD5VC92/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Radios and Antennae: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7NMWCD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Remote mount GPS: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EROIUEW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Peel and stick heat sinks: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HPQGTI4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Battery (optional): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWUZG70/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Software SD Card: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I0G15YU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Case: https://www.amazon.com/Stratux-White-Matte-Finish-Assembly/dp/B01MTF5OJP/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

With that case, there are no tools required, everything simply snaps into place. You can literally have the whole thing assembled in 15 minutes. Honestly, the trickiest thing I've had to do with the Stratux is a recent Firmware update which would be a factor regardless of who built it. You can maybe reach out to the vendor for the SD card and see if you can get the most recent version of the software (which includes a GPS-based AHRS) pre-installed.

If you're looking for a pre-made solution, Open Flight Solutions is a solid outfit.
 
labbadabba said:
It is crazy easy to assemble. If you can assemble an IKEA lamp and plug it in then you can do this.

Here's a parts list:

Motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CD5VC92/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Radios and Antennae: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M7NMWCD/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Remote mount GPS: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EROIUEW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Peel and stick heat sinks: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HPQGTI4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Battery (optional): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWUZG70/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Software SD Card: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I0G15YU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Case: https://www.amazon.com/Stratux-White-Matte-Finish-Assembly/dp/B01MTF5OJP/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

With that case, there are no tools required, everything simply snaps into place. You can literally have the whole thing assembled in 15 minutes. Honestly, the trickiest thing I've had to do with the Stratux is a recent Firmware update which would be a factor regardless of who built it. You can maybe reach out to the vendor for the SD card and see if you can get the most recent version of the software (which includes a GPS-based AHRS) pre-installed.

If you're looking for a pre-made solution, Open Flight Solutions is a solid outfit.
Click to expand...
Oh. They got AHRS working? Guess it's time to update my SD card.
 
ircphoenix said:
Oh. They got AHRS working? Guess it's time to update my SD card.
Click to expand...

Yep, I've tried it on Aerovie and it's okay, better than nothing. FltPlanGo is a hot mess with its flight instruments but the traffic and everything else is slick. Haven't fired up WingX.
 
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