Antenna upgrade

Colton25 · Nov 25, 2015

I've had these antennas for a few years now, my signal is decent I'd say. Can anyone tell me what antennas may be better then the ones in the picture below? I can't remember the exact model numbers one is diamond, and the other is laird. I'm looking for more gain, I'm using cheap cable right now however I plan to change that when/if I decide to try a new antenna. These are used for VHF/UHF.

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ab5r · Nov 25, 2015

Much information is needed to answer. What frequencies are you wanting to listen too? What is the geographical lay of the land? Are you in a hole behind a mountain etc.? How far are the stations from you and are they scattered in different directions?

Obviously, you have a discone which is a reasonable Omni-directional antenna with reason to distance, The Yagi antenna is hard to discern, but would be fair of directional listening. Gain could be obtained by additional elements on the Yagi. There "might" be a tradeoff adding elements and narrowing the bandwidth of received frequencies.
Hope this helps.

Colton25 · Nov 25, 2015

I'm located in a valley however everything is located within the valley. Mostly 150's for frequencies. Farthest is maybe 50 miles, and the antennas are approx 30' high. I've been told upgrading my cable will help a lot.

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marksmith · Nov 25, 2015

That's what I was going to say. If you have decent reception now with cheap cable, the biggest signal loss from an antenna is due to cable length and quality.

You can probably significantly improve your range and efficiency of your antennas with good cable. I would do that first. You might decide you are happy with the antennas you have, which are made by reputable antenna manufacturers.

You seem to have an omni and a directional. Clearly with the directional you are pointing at something. Fine tuning that antenna after cable upgrade might improve things as well.

Mark
WS1095/536/436/996P2/HP1e/HP2e/996XT/325P2/396XT/PRO668/PSR800/PRO652

Colton25 · Nov 25, 2015

Yeah, just wish it was easier to bring the antenna down, anyone know of any ways to make some kind of telescoping mast?

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Citywide173 · Nov 25, 2015

zane018 said:
Yeah, just wish it was easier to bring the antenna down, anyone know of any ways to make some kind of telescoping mast?

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EAGLE TM-30-U Telescoping MAST Antenna 24 FT Push Up TV Mount Pole 18 AWG Heavy Duty Galvanized Steel 3 Section Unit With Guy Rings and Clamps UPS

Or for a shorter height:
Quick deploying RV pushup mast

Colton25 · Nov 26, 2015

Is the first one heavy duty? Also would you put this in concrete?

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Citywide173 · Nov 26, 2015

It is. You could put it in concrete if you wanted to, or mount it to the side of a house.

Colton25 · Nov 26, 2015

Ok thank you

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Colton25 · Nov 26, 2015

Anyone recommend a place to buy good quality cable?

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Colton25 · Nov 27, 2015

Do you think it would be fine mounting it the same way I have it set up now? Here are some pictures of my current setup.

Citywide173 said:
It is. You could put it in concrete if you wanted to, or mount it to the side of a house.

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Citywide173 · Nov 27, 2015

Much too heavy for that mount. You might have to go with a longer mast from ground level to get the same height. I'd use 4 4-inch brackets to the house and the bottom section in a 5 gallon bucket of cement at a minimum with a 40 foot mast to get the same height.

Colton25 · Nov 27, 2015

I thought about going to ground I just don't want to lose height in the mast, can I put a piece of heavy gauge pipe from the ground up to this point?

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Citywide173 · Nov 27, 2015

Mast is just pipe. I use 1-1/4" EMT conduit for my masts that are just one section as it is easier to find and usually cheaper. I remember putting up some commercial repeaters years ago where we used 2 2" 10 foot sections of EMT. The biggest thing is that you don't want to use the EMT couplers, but bolt the sections together with brackets for the best strength. It isn't always the prettiest, but it is functional. Those systems were put up in the early 90's and I see them still standing drive by the antenna sites still today.

Colton25 · Nov 27, 2015

What cable do you recommend?

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Citywide173 · Nov 27, 2015

LMR-400

Colton25 · Nov 27, 2015

What about a reliable distributor?

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Citywide173 · Nov 28, 2015

zane018 said:
What about a reliable distributor?

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By distributor, are you referring to a multicoupler to hook one antenna to multiple scanners? If so, here are my recommendations:

4 port: 4 Port MCA204M VHF/UHF Receiver Multicoupler - 25 MHz to 1 GHz

8 port: 8 Port MCA208M VHF/UHF Receiver Multicoupler - 25 MHz to 1 GHz

16 port: Wideband RF Multicoupler - 16 Radios, Surge Protected, 50 Ohm

Antenna upgrade

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