Luis_C
Member
Hello, I monitor mainly the air band with my Pro-95, I sometimes monitor the police in VHF high or the ISS, but these are really special cases.
I had a telescope antenna from Radio Shack, I knew there was probably better but it was ok, and then it broke. I built a simple 1/4 ground plane antenna, it was just for really testing, it was not strong enough for regular use. It seemed to work but there was a lot of intermod from FM. I got kinda inactive in this stuff and kept using the Pro-95 stock antenna, now I got upgraditis, besides it seems that it is starting to get broken, the BNC is not as stiff as it was before, it kinda dances, and if I get the radio upside down and seems to work better in most of the cases, what can that be?
I have these options:
Maldol AL-500H
Smiley Antenna Super Stick Aircraft Band
AB-PRO-128A VHF Air Band Antenna (Seems to be out of stock right now but anyway, it doesn't matter)
I have heard also that the Diamond RH77CA 2 meter antenna is also used for receiving airbands.
Some guys here seem to believe there's a nice noticeable difference between the Maldol and the Diamond, other don't, and besides there's a big the difference in price. So I would like to hear opinions.
Besides these 4 antennas I am mentioning, besides difference in price, there is a difference in size.
I believe a smaller one would be much more comfortable in a portable, but I care about what I am receiving, so I can sacrifice size for hearing, what I wonder here, at this level of antennas, if we are going to see pretty big differences between the antennas, like totally missing something, or is it like when you start buying high-end audio, even wine, that there's such a big price difference but really small differences.
I am also considering buying a filter, because of the experience I had when I built a ground plane, with my stock antenna, with the squelch not completely at min, I can hear intermod from different sources, I have not really made the research of what I am hearing, but mostly where I use the radio at a lot of air band frequencies I monitor, I can hear a FM radio station at 105.1FM even with my stock antenna.
I can hear the intermod louder, if I put my hand on the antenna, and in some spots it gets really loud, and in others pretty low in volume.
I am looking between the bandpass filter from AOR or the one from scanner master, or getting a notch filter, the HPN-30118.
I am not really sure which one would be more suitable for me, but that's for another thread.
This is really weird but, at one spot at my backyard, I can hear the ATIS most of the time, tower just enough for opening the squelch, and approach is mostly always there, the other spot where I can hear it that good, is at the airport, but anyway there the scanner seems to overload there, kinda distorts, the att improves it. I really believe I should record all the stuff that happens with the radio.
In my house, I feel like I hear everything, but last Saturday. I had the pleasure to travel in an airplane in the cockpit, and I was hearing the traffic being at 20 miles of the airport, and there was some commercial flights, that were passing on the airport airspace, (50nm of the airport) that don't arrive here, that I have never heard in the frequency. Possibly the terrain doesn't help or my scanner is that deaf.
Thanks guys!!
I had a telescope antenna from Radio Shack, I knew there was probably better but it was ok, and then it broke. I built a simple 1/4 ground plane antenna, it was just for really testing, it was not strong enough for regular use. It seemed to work but there was a lot of intermod from FM. I got kinda inactive in this stuff and kept using the Pro-95 stock antenna, now I got upgraditis, besides it seems that it is starting to get broken, the BNC is not as stiff as it was before, it kinda dances, and if I get the radio upside down and seems to work better in most of the cases, what can that be?
I have these options:
Maldol AL-500H
Smiley Antenna Super Stick Aircraft Band
AB-PRO-128A VHF Air Band Antenna (Seems to be out of stock right now but anyway, it doesn't matter)
I have heard also that the Diamond RH77CA 2 meter antenna is also used for receiving airbands.
Some guys here seem to believe there's a nice noticeable difference between the Maldol and the Diamond, other don't, and besides there's a big the difference in price. So I would like to hear opinions.
Besides these 4 antennas I am mentioning, besides difference in price, there is a difference in size.
I believe a smaller one would be much more comfortable in a portable, but I care about what I am receiving, so I can sacrifice size for hearing, what I wonder here, at this level of antennas, if we are going to see pretty big differences between the antennas, like totally missing something, or is it like when you start buying high-end audio, even wine, that there's such a big price difference but really small differences.
I am also considering buying a filter, because of the experience I had when I built a ground plane, with my stock antenna, with the squelch not completely at min, I can hear intermod from different sources, I have not really made the research of what I am hearing, but mostly where I use the radio at a lot of air band frequencies I monitor, I can hear a FM radio station at 105.1FM even with my stock antenna.
I can hear the intermod louder, if I put my hand on the antenna, and in some spots it gets really loud, and in others pretty low in volume.
I am looking between the bandpass filter from AOR or the one from scanner master, or getting a notch filter, the HPN-30118.
I am not really sure which one would be more suitable for me, but that's for another thread.
This is really weird but, at one spot at my backyard, I can hear the ATIS most of the time, tower just enough for opening the squelch, and approach is mostly always there, the other spot where I can hear it that good, is at the airport, but anyway there the scanner seems to overload there, kinda distorts, the att improves it. I really believe I should record all the stuff that happens with the radio.
In my house, I feel like I hear everything, but last Saturday. I had the pleasure to travel in an airplane in the cockpit, and I was hearing the traffic being at 20 miles of the airport, and there was some commercial flights, that were passing on the airport airspace, (50nm of the airport) that don't arrive here, that I have never heard in the frequency. Possibly the terrain doesn't help or my scanner is that deaf.
Thanks guys!!
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