Discone rated best for dual-band (VHF/UHF) aircraft reception?

[iMONITOR]

With all the talk about discone antennas being wide-band, making them great for dual-band, VHF/UHF aircraft reception, which one really is? I've tried a few over the years, Diamond D220 & D220 R, and more recently the Sirio D 2000 N discone and felt they performed well. All the guys in the know claim neither is great for aircraft, especially on VHF, and some down right lousy. They all recommend removing the top vertical element which appears to be the only portion of the antenna that comes close to VHF aircraft. They claim once that top element is removed the remaining portion of the discone is good for UHF Mil-Air.

So my question is, does a discone antenna exist that performs well on both VHF/UHF air bands? Or does the DPD Production Miltenna Omni, not being a discone still appear to be the best choice for hobbist use? Why no one appears to make a good mobile or portable dual-band aircraft antenna?

 

[prcguy]

Plenty of Discones out there will work great on VHF and UHF air. The Diamond D130 series, the old Radio Shack version and most of the same size and shape with the same or more elements. A Kreco D-100A and a few other commercial/military versions should work better as they have 12 or more elements in the disc and cone compared to maybe six on the Diamond and similar units.

 

[iMONITOR]

Plenty of Discones out there will work great on VHF and UHF air. The Diamond D130 series, the old Radio Shack version and most of the same size and shape with the same or more elements. A Kreco D-100A and a few other commercial/military versions should work better as they have 12 or more elements in the disc and cone compared to maybe six on the Diamond and similar units.

With the Diamond D130N do you still recommend removing the top vertical element?

 

[Omega-TI]

I've never been a fan of discone antennas. The omni directional (lack of gain) and trying to be all things on all bands is a trade off. Then you have height issues (the higher the better), but then depending on the coax you use, it might be attenuating the signal on longer runs.

<< THIS TUTORIAL >> might be of some use to you.

 

[Ubbe]

Then you have height issues (the higher the better), but then depending on the coax you use, it might be attenuating the signal on longer runs.

Height are a very powerful tool. In almost every case height will more than compensate for any loss from added coax length. But of course if you already live on a 500ft hill there will be very little increase in performance as soon as you clear the roof of buildings and trees.

/Ubbe

 

[Omega-TI]

Height are a very powerful tool. In almost every case height will more than compensate for any loss from added coax length. But of course if you already live on a 500ft hill there will be very little increase in performance as soon as you clear the roof of buildings and trees.

/Ubbe

True, but you would be surprised what cheap coax people sometimes use on extremely long runs.

 

[iMONITOR]

I've never been a fan of discone antennas. The omni directional (lack of gain) and trying to be all things on all bands is a trade off. Then you have height issues (the higher the better), but then depending on the coax you use, it might be attenuating the signal on longer runs.

<< THIS TUTORIAL >> might be of some use to you.

I tend to agree for the most part.

 

[prcguy]

For use above 100MHz only, yes.

With the Diamond D130N do you still recommend removing the top vertical element?

 

[prcguy]

Name another type of antenna that will work with the same gain at the horizon over at least the 118 to 400MHz range. The only other type I've seen might be a Bicone and a real Bicone (not a Nevada scanner Bicone POS) is much larger than a Discone for the same frequency range and very expensive.

Other antennas can have considerable gain over a Discone but only across very narrow ranges like the VHF and UHF amateur bands and everywhere else the gain goes down and across many frequency ranges the Discone will actually have more gain due to the narrow band antenna being operated way beyond its design limits. Every antenna has trade offs and I see more trying to use a narrow band antenna out of its design range compared to a Discone within its broad frequency range.

I've never been a fan of discone antennas. The omni directional (lack of gain) and trying to be all things on all bands is a trade off. Then you have height issues (the higher the better), but then depending on the coax you use, it might be attenuating the signal on longer runs.

<< THIS TUTORIAL >> might be of some use to you.