Looking for feedback

[Barrikin]

I'm looking to setup an antenna for the first time and I've been doing lots of reading and research and feeling a little overwhelmed.


I'm looking at three antenna's right now,

Full Band Discone 25-1300MHz Canada

T601 25-1300MHz Wide Range Discone - Durham Radio Sales and Service Canada

ST2 30-1300MHz Coverage with 50' Coax Canada


I'm liking the price of the ST2 but wondering what makes the other two double the price when they all claim 25-1300hmz??

Where I live I cannot fasten anything to the roof so I'm thinking of putting the antenna on a tripod with a mast. I understand the higher the better but anything is better then rubby ducky at this point correct? What kind of grounding/amp would I require if any? I'd like to run my PSR-500 & PSR 600 and BC245xlt off this antenna.

Thanks

 

[prcguy]

The key to your question is "they all claim 25-1300MHz". They can claim anything but that doesn't make it true.

They will all cover some frequencies better than others and some frequencies will suck really bad. What you need to do is identify if they will cover the frequencies that you want to cover.

Both Discones will give fairly consistent performance from VHF airband through maybe 500MHz continuous with no gaps. I'm not familiar with the ST2 but it probably works ok on the main public service bands but UHF air and non standard public service bands it may not work so well. I suspect the ST2 works better on 800 than the Discones but maybe an ST2 owner who has compared them can chime in.
prcguy

I'm looking to setup an antenna for the first time and I've been doing lots of reading and research and feeling a little overwhelmed.


I'm looking at three antenna's right now,

Full Band Discone 25-1300MHz Canada

T601 25-1300MHz Wide Range Discone - Durham Radio Sales and Service Canada

ST2 30-1300MHz Coverage with 50' Coax Canada


I'm liking the price of the ST2 but wondering what makes the other two double the price when they all claim 25-1300hmz??

Where I live I cannot fasten anything to the roof so I'm thinking of putting the antenna on a tripod with a mast. I understand the higher the better but anything is better then rubby ducky at this point correct? What kind of grounding/amp would I require if any? I'd like to run my PSR-500 & PSR 600 and BC245xlt off this antenna.

Thanks

 

[ridgescan]

I have a Diamonf d130j. It will get me 40+ miles on vhflo, hi and uhf. I get clear coverage of all of San Francisco on 800 (7-8 miles around), but I never tested to see how far I could get up on 800. What should be a "good" 800 distance? I know I can get SF 800 in my mobile at 12 miles max, but far as my base, that is what has been proven.

 

[SCPD]

i have the st-2, i can hear vhf low really well, c.h.p. in the 44 to 46 range, vhf high is great, have heard some mil-air at 300 range, that i never heard before this antenna, and can hear caltrans all over i-80 @ 50 to 60 miles away in the 800 range, very pleased with this antenna, it is my first outdoor antenna, i read a few post and figured to try it for the price, never owned a discone so i dont know how it would compare against one

 

[sKiZo]

I'm assuming you're working with a flat roof? Tripod is a good solution. I've used them before. Just get a couple wolmanized deck boards, hack them to size and screw the corners together to make a platform to attach the tripod to. A few cinder blocks or a couple bags of sand do a nice job of holding it down. 10 foot of mast should work well, long as it clears any obstructions in the area. If you do need to go higher, make the wolman base bigger and add guy wires.

You do need a good ground with any antenna system. Lightning protection and noise are both killers - one more so than the other ...

** Make sure you run a good splitter or manual switch if you're running two receivers. You'll see a significant reduction in gain if you just hook both up with a Y ...