Better Base Antenna?

[mikec10]

I currently have a Skyband discone base antenna installed in my attic on the third floor of my house. No metal siding. I show some improvement on reception compared to me 800mg rubberducky antenna. I have been looking at the diamond D130NJ at ScannerMaster for $140.00. Thoughts from anyone if you think I would see improvement over the Skyband Discone. I purchased the Skyband from Scannermaster. I have 100 ft of R6 quadshield for the cable. I get good reception now with the skyband. Signals from 40 miles away. Primary listening to 800mg digital. Some non digital lower frequency. Thanks mike

 

[mmckenna]

The laws of antenna design are going to keep things pretty darn even if the sizes of the antennas are the same. I didn't find exact measurements on the Skyband, but it ~looks~ similar in size to the Diamond. As long as there isn't any damage to your antenna, it is likely going to work exactly the same.

Except for low band. The Diamond includes a top whip that is designed to help with VHF low band coverage. If you do any listening down there, you would probably see an improvement. If you don't listen to low band, I wouldn't waste the money on buying the Diamond. Especially if you are getting "good reception" now.

 

[rja1]

Going from one discone to another is like buying the same model car you're not happy with, in a different color. If you're primarily interested in 800 mHz only, check out the vertical antennas at: theantennafarm.com
800 mHz vertical antennas with gain are pretty small & will run rings around any discone. As far as coax goes, RG-6 has 8.7 db loss (per 100 feet) @ 800 mHz. Unless its a VERY short run, don't use RG-6. LMR 400 would be the way to go for 800 mHz Rx.

 

[mikec10]

Thank you for the quick response....I will give the antenna farm a look.

 

[mmckenna]

I agree.

The benefit of a discone antenna is that they cover a lot of of spectrum. That looks great on paper when comparing it to the capabilities of your scanner.

The drawback of a discone is that they have zero gain and the patterns get really wonky the higher you go in frequency.

Depending on what you listen to, a discone may not be your best choice. They are a good solution for a "do everything" antenna, but they don't do everything well.

Band specific antennas will give you a lot better performance. Problem is, if you listen to a lot of different bands, that will require some complex antenna setups.

Amplifiers may help boost weak signals, but they can only boost what's there. They cannot pull signals out of nothing. They can also boost all the stuff you don't want to hear, like strong nearby transmitters, cellular, things that will make your scanner not perform well.

If your existing discone is working for you, stick with it. Better coaxial cable will get more of the signal to your scanner. You'll need to decide if the investment in time and money is worth that.

 

[K5MPH]

You are wasting your money stay with the antenna you have......

 

[KMG54]

Going from one discone to another is like buying the same model car you're not happy with, in a different color. If you're primarily interested in 800 mHz only, check out the vertical antennas at: theantennafarm.com
800 mHz vertical antennas with gain are pretty small & will run rings around any discone. As far as coax goes, RG-6 has 8.7 db loss (per 100 feet) @ 800 mHz. Unless its a VERY short run, don't use RG-6. LMR 400 would be the way to go for 800 mHz Rx.

Who ever did that test used some crappy coax. I am a Satellite guy and when tuning my dish I use a 8 foot piece of RG 6. At just shy of 100 foot I just barley hit the 3Db loss and that is at 1200 to 1400 MHZ. There are a lot of rg6 coaxs out there and I only use Perfect vision solid copper RG6 on all of my receive applications from TV to scanners and even my flight aware 1090 setup that can see 250 miles.