Good antenna for civil and military air monitoring

[wwhitby]

I've recently gotten interested in monitoring the civil and military air bands. I've searched for a good antenna to put up, but I can't seem to find one that covers both bands. I've had to rule out a discone, since I don't have the space for one.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Warren

 

[rankin39]

You could cut the lower radials on a commercial discone (like the RS or the Diamond) to shorten them to resonance at 118 MHz. As the antenna comes from the factory, the radials are several inches longer than they need to be for aircraft band reception. If that makes it small enough for your confined space, you're in business. You could also use a TV antenna. Most aircraft are high enough to put a good strong signal into nearly any kind of antenna. Even the one that connects to the back of the radio would do for planes.
Bob, w0nxn

 

[ka3jjz]

Or how about the off center dipole we have in our wiki? Just how much space have you got there, Warren? A discone doesn't need to have the center whip - ones without the whip don't do well on lowband, but should be just fine above 100 Mhz or so- which is where you want to be. A discone without the whip is much smaller in size.

On milair, a good outdoor antenna is really a must. You won't hear much - unless you are close to a base or air route - with a little back of the set antenna...

73s Mike

 

[Shrike]

The DPD Productions MilTenna Omni is a good compromise dual air band antenna that is well made, and relatively inexpensive also. Take a look. I have 3 of Dave's antennas and they have served me very well.

dpdproductions.com/page_miltenna.html

Mike
Casper, Wyoming

 

[wwhitby]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't have much space, since the antenna will have to go into my attic. My attic is a "plumbers nightmare" of ducts and equipment, so its pretty hard to move around in there. I'm afraid an antenna like a discone would get damaged the next time I had to get up in there.

Right now i'm using a J-Pole that I made back when I was in CAP for VHF airband. I live near a military base with an active runway, as well as an airport that hosts a ANG fighter wing. I was picking up some mil air comms using just a collapsible whip on my scanner.

Does anyone use a Radio Shack 20-176 antenna for mil air monitoring?

Thanks,

Warren

 

[ka3jjz]

If you have room for a JPole, you probably have room for the Off Center Fed dipole which is a homebrew version of something Grove sells. You might also benefit by putting a small amp on the antenna, depending on where you are (as you know, too much gain and all you'll do is end up hearing pagers and other junk...).

We have the plans for the dipole and a few suppliers of amps in our Wiki. Remember the wider the diameter of the antenna elements, the greater the bandwidth of the antenna. It's been discussed in this forum, I'm fairly sure, in the past, so use the search tools in the light blue toolbar to get more information.

73s Mike