Better Antenna
- Thread starter Bonkk083
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Receiving
Neither one is anything great, they have no gain. They're just simple ground plane antennas. What are you hoping to accomplish?
mmckenna
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About 25 years ago I tried a Centerfire UHF ground plane antenna on GMRS.
Was not impressed. Had a heck of a time tuning the thing to work well on GMRS, and I've tuned a lot of antennas.
You can do better, get some actual gain, and get more out of your radio.
Get something like a Larsen NMO-150/450/850 and a ground plane kit.
Was not impressed. Had a heck of a time tuning the thing to work well on GMRS, and I've tuned a lot of antennas.
You can do better, get some actual gain, and get more out of your radio.
Get something like a Larsen NMO-150/450/850 and a ground plane kit.
My thoughts on the 20-176 are outlined in my thread here:
forums.radioreference.com
I love that antenna. I haven't used the Centerfire but it looks damn near the same. I imagine it's comparable. I'm not sure where you could find a 20-176 now so that might be your deciding factor.
New DPD OmniX vs old RS 20-176 -- Findings
I have been using a Radio Shack 20-176 for about 15 years now and wanted to try an upgrade. I purchased a DPD OmniX based in large part on reviews here and also to support a small business with quality customer service. I received the OmniX a few days ago and wanted to share my findings. First...
I love that antenna. I haven't used the Centerfire but it looks damn near the same. I imagine it's comparable. I'm not sure where you could find a 20-176 now so that might be your deciding factor.
I have two of those I'm using one for the weather radioMy thoughts on the 20-176 are outlined in my thread here:
New DPD OmniX vs old RS 20-176 -- Findings
I have been using a Radio Shack 20-176 for about 15 years now and wanted to try an upgrade. I purchased a DPD OmniX based in large part on reviews here and also to support a small business with quality customer service. I received the OmniX a few days ago and wanted to share my findings. First...
I love that antenna. I haven't used the Centerfire but it looks damn near the same. I imagine it's comparable. I'm not sure where you could find a 20-176 now so that might be your deciding factor.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Unlikely. The discone will have zero gain, just like the other two.
If you need more signal to your radio, you either need a higher gain antenna and/or coaxial cable with less loss. An amplifier would be another option.
If all you need is VHF, there are antennas that have gain that will easily outperform any of these three antennas. If you need more than VHF, the discone with low loss coax and maybe an amplifier if your local noise floor is low, might be a better choice.
What amplifier would you use
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
I wouldn't. I'd go with a higher gain antenna. Choosing amplifiers take some skill and it will depend on what you are wanting it to do, and what sort of noise sources (cell towers, paging, NOAA, etc) are nearby. Amplifiers will boost everything in their passband and that can include things you don't want, like high power paging, etc. Those can overload the receiver and make things worse.
There are some on this site that have a lot of skill setting amps up, I'd defer to them.
What antenna you recommend
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Check your other post.
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