Comet DS150S Discone

[tilt404]

Hello,

I was just curious if this antenna comes with two clamps for the mast? Most photos I see online just show one clamp. Doesn't make much sense to me though so just asking here to see if anyone has one and what sort of clamps came with it?

I had a Diamond D130J before and it was ok, but had to sell it. I kind of like how this one has one large screw to secure the top to the mast, where the Diamond has 3 tiny screws and one stripped fairly easily. I also like how the downward radials screw into the head, where the Diamond had rods that were pressure fit with hex screws and at heights I kept worrying about losing one of those tiny set screws. Seems like there's less to drop on the Comet which I liked for my balcony installation.

The Diamond was still great, and I don't mean to say one is better than the other, just that I prefer some differences between the Comet and Diamond.

 

[Rt169Radio]

I think it only comes with one U-bolt. I think thats because the bottom part of the antenna is quite short.

 

[tilt404]

It's so odd since in some photos online I see a short mast or a long one. Hard to know. One still seems to odd to me but I guess I will have to wait and see till it arrives here. Thanks

 

[tilt404]

It came today and I was very impressed over the Diamond D130J I had before this. The tube the head attaches to is longer than the diamond was, very long and came with 2 hefty clamps/hardware. I loved how it had a single bolt to attach the head to the post, unlike the 3 cheap screws on the diamond which are hard to get in if you already have the down rods installed (one of them even stripped on me). On the Comet I was able to install all the rods and then the LMR400 and finally the bolt to secure it to the tube. It also came with the 60 feet or so of cable that the Diamond didn't. I didn't need it but its nice to have for a rainy day. On the Diamond you have to use this tiny hex key tool to attach the down rods which I didn't like. Too easy to strip. On this the rods screw right into the head and have a bolt to snug up. Much better design. I highly recommend this!

33Km/hr gusts today too and had no trouble getting it up in the wind. : )

 

[Rt169Radio]

Good review, and the antenna looks good, plus it looks like you got some height there.

 

[pro106import]

How about signal reception. Do you notice any differences and if so on what frequency range.
Thanks for your input.
Bob

 

[tilt404]

Good review, and the antenna looks good, plus it looks like you got some height there.

Thanks, for some reason I thought just because it came with 60 feet of cable for the same price as the Diamond, the Comet was a cheaper made product. Glad to see that isn't the case. : )

 

[tilt404]

How about signal reception. Do you notice any differences and if so on what frequency range.
Thanks for your input.
Bob

So far on local digital P25 systems here it has helped to get rid of audio distortion I was having before where voices would sound drunk or robotic. Now for the most part, (after 1 day of use so far) the audio is much better and not distorted. This is mainly on VHF and UHF digital trunk systems.

On conventional VHF/UHF in the more distant county here, it has helped a lot also where my reception has gone from a S2 or 3 on the PSR800 to full scale. I haven't gone into the lower bands of this antenna yet though. Mainly listening around 140-850Mhz range. Its connected to my PSR800 with about 25 feet of LMR400 Flex. I'm surprised there hasn't been any overload on the PSR800 also, or intermod. I haven't had a need to use the attenuator at all.

Having owned the diamond D130J though, I'm very pleased with what I feel are upgrades on this antenna, like the larger diameter mast which seems longer, also the larger mounting hardware. Downward rods screw in and tighten with bolts, unlike the tiny hex screws on the Diamond where you push in a rod, then tighten a hex screw to hold it in place. I never had one come out on the Diamond but when installing at a height like I am, I prefer to have larger screws since its easier to deal with. The bolts are easier to tighten and I don't fear stripping them like the tiny hex screws.

That single bolt to hold the head to the mast tube is wonderful also. On the Diamond those 3 tiny tiny screws that hold the head to the tube were a pain. So easy to drop when installing it. One of them stripped as I said also. I even prefer the design of the head on the Comet. It gets kind of concave under the down rods which seems like a better design. You can see the Comet here:

http://www.radio-sklep.pl/userdata/gfx/ee2ef5e1ef44da59e11216d6c1fa879f.jpg

and the Diamond here:

http://jan.kepic.cz/antenna/ANTd130j/D130-ant01.JPG

On the Diamond, those down rods are so tight to the mast where the screws are to secure it. So you had to put the rods on after securing it. I prefer to put the rods on before if possible since then I don't have to learn over the balcony to put them on and with the Comet thanks to its single bolt to attach the mast, I was able to do this. Also on the other rods on the Comet (all of them actually), they have plastic/rubber stoppers on all the ends, unlike the Diamond I had. The down rods had them on the Diamond but not the ones at the top. So another nice Comet addition.

Since the Comet came with the 60 feet of coaxial cable and even a piece of stretch tape to cover the cable connection to help keep water out, seems like it comes with everything you could need to get up and running. For some reason I thought because of this it was a cheaper made product for some reason since it sells for the same price as the Diamond here. But the Comet is a better design in my mind and seems to work as well.

 

[jackj]

I noticed that you installed the vertical rod. You only need that if you will be receiving frequencies below about 100 MHz. Leaving it off will reduce the wind loading quite a bit.

 

[tilt404]

Yes, I did. Its ok though I think since if I need to listen to something in that range quick it will be better than going out into the cold and putting it on. Even in the strongest winds we had here over the past year when I had the Diamond it hardly moved and the Comet seems more solid to me, so should be fine. We had 40km/hr gusts last night and the top element wasn't even moving much.

 

[Forts]

Where did you purchase your antenna from? I'm currently using a RadioShack discone (mounted roughly 30' up with RG-11 for feedline) and I'm really not impressed with it's performance. VHF is pretty good, but UHF seems average at best and 800mhz is almost non-existant, so I've been looking for something better for wide band general scanning. I have dedicated antennas for certain radios (yagi's and such) but use the current discone for general scanning and searching.

 

[tilt404]

I got it from durhamradio.com, not far from you I think. Was a special order since they were out of stock but just took a few days. It really helped clear the P25 800mhz system voice here. Now there's hardly any of that drunk robot type of voice on the system, more easy to understand now. It's about 100' up with 30' of LMR400 FLEX. Came with 60' of RG8 something or other too but not using it. Same price as the diamond at radioworld.ca but I had both and this one is working better for me and is made better in my opinion. Came with the extra coax for the same price too!

 

[Forts]

Thanks! I'll check it out.....