What is your opinion on the Best Base Antenna out there

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ScanMaine

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Looking to purchase a new base antenna now. If you have one please leave a post here and a web link to the antenna!! Thanks


Right now I have a ST2 and a Discone and its the discone you can also transmit from. I was looking at a ferret but I read the reviews are junk for a 3oo antenna
 

SCPD

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i can !

For scanning I don't think you can beat a discone.


I dont like discones at all,no gain.Hohum performance.
My Comet Gp-15 best all around antenna ,works great here using 9913 cable
I feel like the planes are landing on the roof and the base stations are my neighbors.800mhz,VHF high band,UHF all come in great.Using Uniden radios.Oh yeah I even have the signal split using a CATV splitter.
The GRE's require an inline variable attenuator due to too much signal,but still work fine after the fact.

52MHz 3.0dBi 5⁄8 wave
146MHz 6.2dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 2 <<<<look at the GAIN!
446MHz 8.6dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 4 <<<<wow!

Right now its laying in a closet and Still works good. I get 4 weather channels+


https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/ncg-comet-gp-15-1077.html
 

SCPD

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Check out DPD Productions, some who have bought from DPD are very pleased with their results, and have posted here on RR.
 

prcguy

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The Comet and similar base antennas are fairly narrow band within the ham bands and when you get say 10-20Mhz away it drops off drastically like 10 to 20dB. Also the advertised gain is nowhere near close, even if its in dBi.

I have several Comet base antennas, the commercial freq GP-9N, GP-15 and CX333 and they are good for their size in the specified frequency range. My commercial GP-9N is tuned for 155MHz on VHF and its useless in the 2m ham band. My various 6dBD gain VHF exposed dipole arrays (21ft long) have about 3 to 4 dB more gain than the advertised 6.2dB gain of the GP-15. An actual dedicated 1/4 wave ground plane for 6m has noticeably more gain than the GP-15 on 6m and its rated at 3dB gain.
prcguy




I dont like discones at all,no gain.Hohum performance.
My Comet Gp-15 best all around antenna ,works great here using 9913 cable
I feel like the planes are landing on the roof and the base stations are my neighbors.800mhz,VHF high band,UHF all come in great.Using Uniden radios.Oh yeah I even have the signal split using a CATV splitter.
The GRE's require an inline variable attenuator due to too much signal,but still work fine after the fact.

52MHz 3.0dBi 5&#8260;8 wave
146MHz 6.2dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 2 <<<<look at the GAIN!
446MHz 8.6dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 4 <<<<wow!

Right now its laying in a closet and Still works good. I get 4 weather channels+


https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/ncg-comet-gp-15-1077.html
 

kayn1n32008

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My various 6dBD gain VHF exposed dipole arrays (21ft long) have about 3 to 4 dB more gain than the advertised 6.2dB gain of the GP-15.


As well, folded dipole arrays like a Sinclair 210-C4(VHF), or a 310-C4(UHF) or similar antennas from Comprod, are VERY brad band. The 210-C4, although a VHF antenna, is resonate on UHF as well, although the pattern is undoubtably skewed to some degree. The Sinclair antennas are resonance for the full VHF and UHF bands, and are pretty flat SWR. Really even a 2 element VHF folded dipole array should work for V/UHF monitoring, and have very reasonable performance on UHF.

If you can live with the nulls directly above and below the antennas, they are FAR better antennas than any Comet or Diamond vertical.


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rrbum

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Watching this thread with interest. I am shocked at what I am finding while researching a scanner antenna purchase. The nice ones seem to be no longer available. Don't want a fragile 75 ohm dipole, a discone or a unity gain ground plane. Even checked ebay thinking some Chinese crap might be out there, to no avail. I guess there is no market big enough for anyone to make a quality antenna for scanner enthusiasts. The PAR MON-3 is no longer available, the log periodic from DPD productions is not available, nothing wideband of good quality seems to be found. I will now begin to explore plans for building one's own antenna, but I would much rather purchase a quality item if I could.
 

digitalanalog

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There are a BUNCH of antennas to choose from, A BUNCH, do some home work, if your not affraid to spend some money, the antenna your looking for is out there, if you want quality look at quality antennas.

To say "nothing wideband of good quality seems to be found", just means your not looking at the right antenna manufactures.

and to the OP, This question has been asked many many times over, and the answer is still the same, There is no such things as "The Best Antenna Out There"

Good luck on your search.
 

prcguy

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My reason for using exposed dipole arrays as an example is, its about the most amount of gain you can get of any current design per size (length) for an omni antenna. A 4 bay VHF dipole array set for 6dBD omni gain is a good 20 to 21ft tall.

How can some 12ft long VHF antennas claim 7dB or more gain? Generally by referencing to something that is really bad or non existent, or outright lying.
prcguy

As well, folded dipole arrays like a Sinclair 210-C4(VHF), or a 310-C4(UHF) or similar antennas from Comprod, are VERY brad band. The 210-C4, although a VHF antenna, is resonate on UHF as well, although the pattern is undoubtably skewed to some degree. The Sinclair antennas are resonance for the full VHF and UHF bands, and are pretty flat SWR. Really even a 2 element VHF folded dipole array should work for V/UHF monitoring, and have very reasonable performance on UHF.

If you can live with the nulls directly above and below the antennas, they are FAR better antennas than any Comet or Diamond vertical.


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kayn1n32008

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Looking to purchase a new base antenna now. If you have one please leave a post here and a web link to the antenna!! Thanks





Right now I have a ST2 and a Discone and its the discone you can also transmit from. I was looking at a ferret but I read the reviews are junk for a 3oo antenna


Some thing you have not posted in this thread is what bands you listen to. That will help us recommend what kind of antenna to recommend to you


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kayn1n32008

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I dont like discones at all,no gain.Hohum performance.
My Comet Gp-15 best all around antenna ,works great here using 9913 cable
I feel like the planes are landing on the roof and the base stations are my neighbors.800mhz,VHF high band,UHF all come in great.Using Uniden radios.Oh yeah I even have the signal split using a CATV splitter.
The GRE's require an inline variable attenuator due to too much signal,but still work fine after the fact.

52MHz 3.0dBi 5&#8260;8 wave
146MHz 6.2dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 2 <<<<look at the GAIN!
446MHz 8.6dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 4 <<<<wow!

Right now its laying in a closet and Still works good. I get 4 weather channels+


https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/ncg-comet-gp-15-1077.html


Those gain figures are misleading. Being that those figures are gain over an isotropic radiator(it does not exist) gain over a dipole is a much more realistic figure ... Subtract 2.15dB... To get dBd instead of dBi. Not all that impressive for such a large antenna really


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prcguy

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If you want better performance than a single do everything antenna you can get band specific antennas and combine with a diplexer, triplexer, quadpelxer, etc. I do this with a bunch of commercial antennas and no single antenna of any kind can come close the weak signals they can pick up.

Ebay or local ham swap meets have lots of surplus and large VHF, UHF and 800 antennas for very good prices. I've purchased DB Products, Sinclair, Maxrad and Cushcraft 4-bay VHF dipole arrays from Ebay (without the masts) and the most I've spend is $75.

Same goes for various UHF DB Products DB-420s, DB-408s, Cellwave Stationmasters, 5 and 7.5dBD gain UHF fiberglass sticks from A/S, broad band VHF and UHF military and commercial air band antennas, 10dB fiberglass 800 sticks, you name it and I've probably bought it on Ebay.

There has also been some great deals on Austin tri, quad and pentaplexers made for the commercial bands. Just keep looking and you will find what you need to assemble a really nice antenna setup.
prcguy
 
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joeuser

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Radio Shark Discone, best bang for the buck IMHO. Get good coax RG8 or better, keep length as short as possible, elevate antenna as high as possible, & eliminate any splitters, adapters, or other connections that are not absolutely needed.
 

FeedForward

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I dont like discones at all,no gain. My Comet Gp-15 best all around antenna ,works great here using 9913 cable

52MHz 3.0dBi 5&#8260;8 wave
146MHz 6.2dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 2 <<<<look at the GAIN!
446MHz 8.6dBi 5&#8260;8 wave x 4 <<<<wow!

These reviews are very misleading to the novice antenna student. Please review the entire concept of antenna gain and you will find that it is always relative to the isotropic radiator, or "spherical point source". The word Gain is a little unfortunate but it refers to altering the imaginary spherical radiation pattern by re-arranging it into one or more predictable directions. If you are transmitting, your signal will be concentrated into the directional lobes of the pattern. If you are receiving, your pattern will serve to pick up signals in one direction, whilst attenuating signals in others.

What works well at your location may be completely unsuitable at another location because the signals are arriving at the wrong angle relative to a particular antenna's pattern. In that case, the more antenna gain you have in the wrong direction, the more your desired signals will be attenuated. Each installation must be evaluated for its particular requirements. All the gain the world won't do any good if signals are not arriving at the directional lobes of the radiation pattern. That's the real story.

FF
 

ScanMaine

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Radio Shark Discone, best bang for the buck IMHO. Get good coax RG8 or better, keep length as short as possible, elevate antenna as high as possible, & eliminate any splitters, adapters, or other connections that are not absolutely needed.

That is what I have Now and dont like it
 

Blackink

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All I know is that when I switched my BCT15X over to the ST-2 antenna from the stock antenna that came with the scanner, the difference was night and day.

My ST-2 is mounted about 35-40 feet in the air and I pick up frequencies as far away as 70 miles.
Frequencies that were scratchy with 1 bar or no bars are now getting 4-5 bars and much clearer.

Disclaimer: I have NO professional experience in antenna's, but I love listening to my scanner a whole lot more now with my ST-2 connected....
 
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