Thuraya & XT Hotspot - Inflight?

I get rather good signals with my XT lying on the dashboard (with the built in antenna). So I currently see no point for an external antenna.

I guess there is no general answer to this question as it will depend a lot on the airframe. Composite low wing planes will probably have better reception in the cockpit then high wing metal planes. As a worst case we just put an ADL120 in a CJ4. This specific model has got a special coating on the windshield and it has the worst GPS and Iridium reception I have seen so far in a cockpit. But on the other hand we found a nice place back in the cabin which has very good reception.

For Thuraya reception the key seems to be the signal quality when flying to the North West, away from the satellite. It will be interesting to hear about Achim’s experiences.

I get rather good signals with my XT lying on the dashboard (with the built in antenna). So I currently see no point for an external antenna.

Getting 3-5 bars is no problem but I found data transfer is highly unreliable when the phone inside the cabin. It was OK flying south east, i.e. towards the satellite but unusable when flying at a 90° or 180° to the satellite. On a high wing aircraft, the wings shield when at 90° and for 180° it was just not practical trying to somehow position the phone that it would see through the rear window. Altogether, the hassle factor was an order of magnitude too high to be of any use.

Hi Achim, have you tested the Satsleeve? How well does it work?

Sorry, no, not yet in the aircraft. Too many things prevent me from flying these days, the weather only being one of them.

Yes, me too … IR Checkflight tomorrow: (probably) cancelled du to FZGRA …. Flight to Paderbon Thursday: cancelled aswell.

I flew from ETSI to EDVE today morning and back in the afternoon.
Clouds were less thicker (2000ft max) then forecasted and no icing at all.

Great day for flying, but I already missed the satsleeve ;)
I’m waiting for the pireps about how it works without external antenna, then I’m going to decide about the purchase.

how about a grouped satsleeve purchase? If there are a few of us, maybe we’ll get a decent discount?

Potentially I might be up for this. How well does the Galazy phone fit into the sleeve? Is it a nice product to hand-hold and use like that?

I would also use it for this – for emergency use.

Good idea, here is the lowest price I found after a quick search:
http://m-cramer-satellitenservices.shopgate.com/item/333637
685€ for a satsleeve for iPhone 5(s)

I’d come along!