How do I fix a Discone Antenna

[Saint]

:?:
I have an old Radio Shack Discone Antenna that has two of the long radials missing and two smaller radials missing. Does anyone have a quick fix on how to make new radials for this antenna.
Steve

 

[bpsmicro]

You can make antenna elements out of welding rods. That's a common technique used by hams to make their own antennas. If you have any existing ones to compare against, determining the correct length should be fairly easy.

 

[RBerezowski]

Good tip on using welding rods. If it's the same as my discone, the rods are threaded on one end, and screw into the base portion of the discone. I've had one break off, but performance hasn't been seriously affected by one missing element.

My question: How would you suggest the welding rods be attached to the base?

(Being the handyman I am, I would use duct tape. However, there must be a more elegant solution.)

Rob

 

[bpsmicro]

Hmm, good question. If the old threaded part had been removed, I'd probably go get a small tap & die set. Otherwise, glue it is.

 

[KB8UYC]

just to throw my two cents in, it might just be cheaper to buy a new antenna!
I mean fixing it is fine, but seems like a lot of work and money, tap and die set, welding rods etc......for what you would pay for all that a new antenna would problably be a good choice!

BTW.....I like my discone, but when it goes I probably wont get a new one, I will go with something different and beams are $45.00 these days!

Not trying to be the devils advocate, just throwing another possibility in there!

 

[DaveH]

I'm not a big fan of tossing things if they can be repaired, without
going overboard. There is a certain satisfaction in fixing things.

Home Hardware may also carry steel rods. If you can get the
right size and material, see if you can borrow a tap to thread
the rod (and the same sized die in case the other threads
need a bit of cleanup). Princess Auto had a sale on a set so
I got one hoping it will eventually pay for itself.

Brazing rods are brass and may be a bit too bendy but probably
good up to a couple of feet. They're solderable which is good in
some cases.

I'd got an 800MHz groundplane clearout deal from RS but it
had one radial with bad thread. I could have returned it but
at most would have got the $10 plus tax back, and it was worth
more than that to me. It's now as good as (it should have been)
new.

Dave

 

[Thornhill20]

One thing you might want to try... I snapped off one of the long radials on my RadioShack discone the same day I bought it. I tried to exchange it, but no go.

At the time (5 or 6 years back), you could order replacement elements through Tandy National Parts (Later renamed to RadioShack Answers, now..who knows) for $5.00 each.

You might want to make a trip down to your store and see.

Another option, I'm sure Steve could tell you better...last time I was at the RadioShack Clearence Center in Barrie (about 6 months ago), they had 2 or 3 of the discone antennas on clearance for 15 dollars a piece, you might want to just get a whole new antenna.

-Mike

 

[mikewazowski]

I visit the clearance center in Barrie on a regular basis and have never seen a discone there. They did have a bunch of the discone like antennas that had 3 radials and 3 vertical elements. The middle vertical element was surrounded by 2 shorter vertical elements. I guess you could call it a discone although it seemed more like a quarter wave variant.

Best bet is to obtain some stainless steel stock (or copper or whatever metal turns your crank) and use a tap & die set to thread the rod.

The Radio Shack antennas were poorly made and usually didn't last very long. I believe the elements were basically hollow steel tubing filled with a plastic insert. Any flexing due to wind usually resulted in broken elements. They also lacked the center whip that the better made (and more expensive) Diamond/Comet/etc manufacturers had.

If anybody is interested, the Radio Shack warehouse sale started yesterday. Lot's o' cheap junk.

 

[bpsmicro]

Is this warehouse sale available online? I'm disinclined to drive to Barrie in the off chance there's something I want there.

 

[mikewazowski]

I doubt it.

Most of these items are just dumped on tables so I suspect they would not take the time to itemize it all and post it on a webpage.

This is really a warehouse sale. Discontinued items, returned items, scratch and dents are put on tables in a large warehouse.