Apartment balcony antenna

[RClary11]

I am thinking about putting up a centerfire deluxe discone antenna on my balcony; mostly because is very small and low profile. I'd like to know what to do for a mast though. if that doesn't sound like an odd question. I think I can go 20 feet to clear the apartment roof, and I wonder if anyone can suggest a mast solution that isn't too terribly pricey. I was thinking of mounting the mast in a flowerpot in soil. which was suggested in another post in the forum. Thanks in advance.

 

[W8RMH]

I use an old torch light pole inside for my Yagi antenna.

 

[krokus]

I am thinking about putting up a centerfire deluxe discone antenna on my balcony; mostly because is very small and low profile. I'd like to know what to do for a mast though. if that doesn't sound like an odd question. I think I can go 20 feet to clear the apartment roof, and I wonder if anyone can suggest a mast solution that isn't too terribly pricey. I was thinking of mounting the mast in a flowerpot in soil. which was suggested in another post in the forum. Thanks in advance.

20' with an antenna might need a bit more ballast, unless it is a large flower pot.

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[rbrtklamp2]

Fill the pot with cement instead of soil and you should be good for your 20 foot pole. The last thing you want is that thing coming down and hitting someone. I'd also add at least on or two guy wires and attach them to the building or balcony just as a safety precaution wind and storms can do crazy things.

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[RClary11]

I use an old torch light pole inside for my Yagi antenna.

Inside? How high up are you in the apartment building and how's the reception?

 

[majoco]

What the Australians call a "squid pole" - some are up to 30 feet of carbon fibre or kevlar/fibreglass tubing. You'll have to hunt around your local fishing shops to find an equivalent.

https://www.haverford.com.au/fishing/recreational-fishing-products/telescopic-squid-poles

 

[RClary11]

What the Australians call a "squid pole" - some are up to 30 feet of carbon fibre or kevlar/fibreglass tubing. You'll have to hunt around your local fishing shops to find an equivalent.

https://www.haverford.com.au/fishing/recreational-fishing-products/telescopic-squid-poles

Would I be able to mount a discone on it though? I have been looking online about squid poles, and it's mostly hams using them, and they mostly seem to wrap the antenna wire around it.

 

[W8RMH]

Inside? How high up are you in the apartment building and how's the reception?

First floor, site is about 8 miles away. Reception is 5 bars. (Listen to the feed). I also pickup stations two counties over in that direction. Flat terrain.

 

[scanmanmi]

I am thinking about putting up a centerfire deluxe discone antenna on my balcony

Why put up a discone? What freqs are you targeting?

 

[RClary11]

Why put up a discone? What freqs are you targeting?

I am in a small town, kind of a rural areas, so I target a variety things. OPP, local and county fire departments. Local airport, and some air to air traffic. I think a discone is probably the best for such listening.

 

[scanmanmi]

I am rural and would never think about a discone. They have no gain. If it's mainly VHF UHF there are some good gain antennas. I went from a local area 1/4 wave to super high gain @40' and now I get 1/4 of the state.

 

[RClary11]

I am rural and would never think about a discone. They have no gain. If it's mainly VHF UHF there are some good gain antennas. I went from a local area 1/4 wave to super high gain @40' and now I get 1/4 of the state.

What brand name antenna would you suggest?

 

[scanmanmi]

Sorry I can't really recommend since I'm a ham so mine are tuned a little differently for the ham bands. I use Comet GP9 and CA-2x4SR. Outstanding. They are fantastic on other bands and air too. For my 800mhz scanner I also have a 15 element yagi.
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-gp-9
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-ca-2x4sr

Yesterday I was driving 50 miles away and happened to hear a fire call on my own street!

 

[krokus]

I am in a small town, kind of a rural areas, so I target a variety things. OPP, local and county fire departments. Local airport, and some air to air traffic. I think a discone is probably the best for such listening.

A discone sounds like a decent option for you, since they cover a wide range of frequencies. Quite a few people have been happy with this one, too.

https://dpdproductions.com/collecti...-antennas/products/omnix-scanner-base-antenna

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[RClary11]

A discone sounds like a decent option for you, since they cover a wide range of frequencies. Quite a few people have been happy with this one, too.

https://dpdproductions.com/collecti...-antennas/products/omnix-scanner-base-antenna

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https://centerfireantenna.com/antenna-menu/deluxe-discone-antenna/ This is the one I was thinking of getting. Mostly because, as I previously stated, it's small, and low profile.

 

[Ubbe]

https://centerfireantenna.com/antenna-menu/deluxe-discone-antenna/ This is the one I was thinking of getting. Mostly because, as I previously stated, it's small, and low profile.

Why do they so often name things deluxe when they are worse than the standard item?

The lower elements of a discone needs to be 6 or more, not 4 as in this one. The space between the lower elements upper part and the horisontal elements are huge and determine the highest frequency of a discone, so this one seems to be lower than 500MHz as its highest frequency. I guess it works more like a 1/4 wave GP antenna made for 150MHz than a real full frequency range discone.

The text also suggest that, as it can be tuned to low SWR at 145MHz and will also have low SWR at 440MHz which is 3x the tuned frequency and will resonate well with low SWR with all 1/4 wave antennas. A real discone have low SWR over its whole frequency range.

/Ubbe

 

[RClary11]

Why do they so often name things deluxe when they are worse than the standard item?

The lower elements of a discone needs to be 6 or more, not 4 as in this one. The space between the lower elements upper part and the horisontal elements are huge and determine the highest frequency of a discone, so this one seems to be lower than 500MHz as its highest frequency. I guess it works more like a 1/4 wave GP antenna made for 150MHz than a real full frequency range discone.

The text also suggest that, as it can be tuned to low SWR at 145MHz and will also have low SWR at 440MHz which is 3x the tuned frequency and will resonate well with low SWR with all 1/4 wave antennas. A real discone have low SWR over its whole frequency range.

/Ubbe

Here is a guy on youtube using it, he seems to like the antenna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pib...0mv2vmgasgrsxdzpugodw03c010c.1538086166712572

 

[questnz]

1+ for Omni-X, excellent quality made in US of A and reception on all bands

 

[Ubbe]

Here is a guy on youtube using it, he seems to like the antenna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pib...0mv2vmgasgrsxdzpugodw03c010c.1538086166712572

But as always when somebody says it works ok, and it is better than having any kind of antenna inside a building, they have nothing to compare with that have been sitting at the same spot with the same coax and same receiver and so on.

But as it only costs $40 it probably beats buying material and putting work into building your own 1/4 wave GP.

I have received transatlantic skip in Stockholm from US fire brigades on 35MHz using a dipol cut for 145MHz.

/Ubbe

 

[cbehr91]

What frequencies are you trying to monitor? If it's the popular scanner bands it would be in your favor to set up two antennas and use a multicoupler; a true discone (like a Diamond D130J without the center whip) for VHF and UHF, and then something specific for 800 mHz. Pretty much all the scanner and hobbyist discones really shine between 100 and 500 mHz. Outside of that their performance drops off, so you'd need something else for 800 mHz.

If you're just trying to pick up one set of frequencies, a 1/4 wave ground plane is pretty much the simplest and most effective antenna.

The Centerfire Super Discone or whatever it's called isn't a discone, and should not be marketed as such. A quick Google search will clear up what a proper discone should look like, and how many elements it should have.