St-2 antenna question

I have my ST2 up on my roof pointing to the south. I can hear lots from the South and the West but not as strong from the North and East. Any Ideas how to pick up more from North and East Is it a directional antenna can I turn it and imporve it..


I need some Ideas here Please??

Any would be great???

face it NE.

ok, is that all you got.. The reason I ask is that There is nothing in directions about this... or does anyone have a link to maybe any other thread to help me...

Did you NOT ask this question ?

Any Ideas how to pick up more from North and East Is it a directional antenna can I turn it and imporve it..

I wasn't trying to be wise guy. I'm gonna try that this weekend when not rainng

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

OK !, are you trying to get all 4 corners ? or just North & East ? if you want N & E , try NE first then see what you get.

The ST2 doesn't "point" at anything. Its a vertically polarized antenna and is supposed to be omnidirectional. That said, the tower or mast it is mounted on could skew the directional pattern. Or, it could have nothing to do with the antenna and be related to your location. Vertical dipoles should be mounted a quarter wavelength out from the support structure. The ST2 design does not allow for this at lower frequencies and that could lead to a directional pattern.

I don't under stand. Im sorry Im Slow... I have everything set up like it shows on the picture with it muntained right to almost the di pole and facing south. I was just hoping to pick up more from north and east and less south and west

I don't know how to make it any clearer. The antenna is designed to receive from all directions. Turning it will not make a difference. Maybe you need to get a Yagi or other directional antenna and point it in the direction of maximum interest.

if its mounted free and clear, top of the mast, you will be omni directional. if its mouted lower, the pole becomes a reflector and the antenna becomes more a directional design. Since directional or reflected elements are parasitic in their design, the pole is metal and it filters in to the antenna design. Beings it is at the rear of the st-2 mount, the pole is a relector. Hope this makes sense. Do you have any structures between the antenna at the direction that you would like to hear.? The best antennas have a hard time going through a house or mountains.

No I except trees. I want to go away from a mountain SE a little

ko6jw_2 said:

I don't know how to make it any clearer. The antenna is designed to receive from all directions. Turning it will not make a difference. Maybe you need to get a Yagi or other directional antenna and point it in the direction of maximum interest.

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That would be cool... Need more coin for that

MaineRadioMan said:

I don't under stand. Im sorry Im Slow... I have everything set up like it shows on the picture with it muntained right to almost the di pole and facing south. I was just hoping to pick up more from north and east and less south and west

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The ST2 is a broadband (meaning a wide frequency range) omnidirectional antenna. Omnidirectional meaning that it receives signals from all directions at an equal strength.

If you're looking to null out signals from a certain direction, you'll need to start looking for antennas that are more directional. Think a Yagi or Log Periodic antenna. I'm not sure what frequency range you're trying to cover here, but Yagis are more "single band" focused, while log periodic antennas can provided more broadband-like coverage, while still maintaining their ability to be directional.

lOOKING FOR 150 TO 175 AND 400 TO 470.00 AND 800. TO 956

MaineRadioMan said:

lOOKING FOR 150 TO 175 AND 400 TO 470.00 AND 800. TO 956

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Please try to avoid using caps lock as it gives the appearance that you're yelling at others in the forum.

For such broadband reception, and for the sake of simplicity, directional antennas are out considering its an 800 MHz swath of spectrum that you're looking to monitor. Stick with the ST2, it's a great antenna. I have one up on my roof. Not much you can do about nulling out N-S signals.

I recall reading that Bob Grove admitted this antenna has some directional characteristics to it. So it would make sense it would favor signals from the direction it is point at.

The ST2 is 'kind of' omnidirectional, but not 'exactly'.

Attached below is a screen capture of four instances of SDRSharp running simultaneously on four different ST2 antennas.

The signals at 250.350 MHz, 250.450 MHz, and 250.550 MHz are the SatCom 'Fleet Broadcast Channels'.

The direction of each antenna is noted in upper right corner or each SDRSharp instance.

Only the direction of the antenna is different.

You can see by the relative difference of those three frequencies, the direction of the antenna will favor one or another.

I've found that the ST2 'slightly' favors to the sides and slightly forward.
(Looking away from the mast pole)

It's not often a problem, 'but it could' make a big difference on weak signals.

I can receive multiple NOAA Weather Radio signals on each 162 MHz NOAA frequency.
Depending on which antenna I select, a distant signal will either not be there at all, or .. another signal will be received instead.

Edit: Not that it should matter, but in my setup, the antennas are 'skewed' 12 degrees counterclockwise from TRUE North. (North is at 348 degrees in those images)

Rich

SatCom Fleet Broadcast Channels:

SO YOUR TELLING ME I CAN TURN MY ANTENNA AND TRY IT. IF THAT IS THE CASE THAN i WILL TRY IT SATURDAY WHEN IT STOPS RAINING HERE.. i JUST PUT IT UP AND FACED THE SOUTH CAUSE IT LOOKED GOOD ON THE HOUSE AND TOWER.. BUT WE WILL SEE..

iMONITOR said:

I recall reading that Bob Grove admitted this antenna has some directional characteristics to it. So it would make sense it would favor signals from the direction it is point at.

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I remember reading about this. From what I recall, he said it does display some directional characteristics, but they were rather insignificant.

FWIW, I performed a very unscientific test of this when I first moved to my new home. I have a LSM TRS over a ridge from my home that has proved elusive to listen to from my location. Changes in reception from an RSSI perspective of this system with the antenna faced both parallel as well as perpendicular to the tower were negligible. Certainly nothing like the gain/nulling effects of a directional antenna.

iM NOT TRYING TO GAIN ANYTHING BUT MORE TRAFFIC FROM THE NORTH AND EAST. iM SICK OF LISTENING TO THE SOUTHERN PART OF MAINE!!!!