Good Attic Antenna

[mlconnell]

I am wondering what type of antenna I could put in my attic for receving only. Mainly 800 Mhz however VHF also. I once lived in an apartment and used a Slinky stretched as a HF Transmit antenna and would just use my built-in antenna tuner to tune it before TX.
I wonder if this may work as a receive for my BCD996T?? I live in a house and I can put up an antenna outside but you know what they say, Out of site, out of mind. If my wife does not have to see it, she will not be constantly reminded of my huge bill for the radios I have... HA HA HA.... Just thinking of a good way to receive with minimal effort and more money. Thanks..

KC5VVL

 

[W4KRR]

I am wondering what type of antenna I could put in my attic for receving only. Mainly 800 Mhz however VHF also. I once lived in an apartment and used a Slinky stretched as a HF Transmit antenna and would just use my built-in antenna tuner to tune it before TX.
I wonder if this may work as a receive for my BCD996T?? I live in a house and I can put up an antenna outside but you know what they say, Out of site, out of mind. If my wife does not have to see it, she will not be constantly reminded of my huge bill for the radios I have... HA HA HA.... Just thinking of a good way to receive with minimal effort and more money. Thanks..
KC5VVL

Depends on how much vertical room you have in your attic. I myself have only a fairly small crawl space, not much vertical room. I have the Radio Shack ground plane scanner antenna (not sure of the model number) mainly because it fits. It does an okay job all things considered. If you have the room, you might consider the Scantenna, which is a dipole cluster design. I've had one, lots of people swear by them, but my attic just isn't high enough for one, hence the Radio Shack ground plane instead.

Another antenna I like is the Par Electronics MON3, which I understand has been discontinued. I've got one, and it works great, and would fit in my attic if I chose to put it up there. Too bad they quit making them.

 

[Nascar18]

Ken, I have the Par Mon3 and it is a great antenna and with a size of 22" x 35" . I just think Par Electronics fell behind in making them, you can still order them from Par Electronics.

 

[W4KRR]

Ken, I have the Par Mon3 and it is a great antenna and with a size of 22" x 35" . I just think Par Electronics fell behind in making them, you can still order them from Par Electronics.

I'll have to check that. The Universal Radio website, where I bought mine, no longer lists them. They had them previously listed them as "discontinued".

 

[hoser147]

I'll have to check that. The Universal Radio website, where I bought mine, no longer lists them. They had them previously listed them as "discontinued".

same here maybe if ya contact par they can put you in touch with one or a dealer that has one..............Hoser

 

[ka3jjz]

The Slinky won't work very well at 800 for sure. You really should get a nice discone and put it outside, nice and high and fed with the right coax, to get the best performance. But many homes have nice sized attics, so a discone would likely fit. What are your size constraints?
Be more specific. 73s Mike

 

[mlconnell]

Well now that you mention it I don't have alot of room up there. It's pretty constrained.
The outside discone antenna... which one do you guy's recommend?

 

[Highlander_821]

Diamond makes a great discone. Get the BEST low loss coax you can afford, it makes a HUGE difference when you get up into UHF and 800. LMR-400, Davis-RF Bury-Flex, Belden 9913, something like that. Well worth the money.

 

[scansomd]

Normally I would recommend the Diamond Discone antenna. If you plan to keep it in the attic and out of the weather, the Rat Shack Discone is cheaper and should work OK for your purposes. If you ever plan to have an outdoor antenna, go ahead and purchase the Diamond Discone. It is hands down worth every penny (~$100 or so).

Well now that you mention it I don't have alot of room up there. It's pretty constrained.
The outside discone antenna... which one do you guy's recommend?

 

[W4KRR]

Well now that you mention it I don't have alot of room up there. It's pretty constrained.
The outside discone antenna... which one do you guy's recommend?

Just remember you need enough vertical space to set the antenna upright, at least three or four feet, maybe more. Since the antenna will be in an attic out of the weather, the Radio Shack discone would probably be just fine, if you go that route.

 

[trooperdude]

Diamond makes a great discone. Get the BEST low loss coax you can afford, it makes a HUGE difference when you get up into UHF and 800. LMR-400, Davis-RF Bury-Flex, Belden 9913, something like that. Well worth the money.

Discones are a HORRIBLE choice for UHF and 800Mhz.

Especially in an attic.

Get a frequency-specific antenna for anything above 400Mhz.

 

[frankh]

I've had really good results with one of these in my attic, big plus is it doesn't take much space. http://www.niljon.com/pages/1/index.htm super-m base model

 

[CharlesDom]

I have a better idea: grow some balls and put up an outdoor antenna. It doesn't have to be 100 feet in the air, just something toward the back of the house where it's not so obvious from the front.

Don't take my comment the wrong dude, just messing with ya.