I will be moving soon and the new location I don't want to put a scanner antenna on the roof. Does anyone have any advice info on mounting a scanner antenna (prefer a discone) on a gutter? While a discone would be preferable I am open to other antenna ideas.
Scanner Antenna House Gutter Mounting?
- Thread starter AZ645
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A gutter may not be sturdy enough to mount the antenna- too much torque on a small surface.
doctordialtone
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I agree. A gutter won't even support the antenna with no wind.
I'd come up with another idea.
Thanks, will do probably attic mount then or use one of those cheap magnetic sdr antennas and mount to gutter.
How about a wall-mount antenna mast?
Most houses will have vent pipes sticking up through the roof. Even an ABS plastic vent pipe will be strong enough to hold a Discone on a very short mast and there are vent pipe clamps available for that.
Remember the old Ventenna? Seems easy enough to make.
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You've gotten lots of good advice, and some very viable alternatives to mounting your antenna to your house gutter--I really like the Ventenna--great for communities with those pesky covenants.
That said, sometimes you just have a pile o' stuff in your basement, and you want to fiddle around with it. Here's how I mounted an NMO antenna to my house gutter in the days before I finally put up a dedicated scanner antenna mast.
The key was to reinforce the gutter lip--which was far too flimsy with the original gutter spike--with a snap in/screw-into-the-roof gutter hanger. The gutter hanger really stiffened up that section of the gutter lip. Once that was done, I just used an L-bracket with some substantial metal screws, and added an NMO mount. Make certain that you add a lightening/static arrestor to the coax, and ground it all.
Just one final note, I don't think that my method would handle the weight of most discones. If you're determined to use the gutter method, I'd recommend a multi-band, NMO scanner antenna--one of my favs is the Larsen 150-450-800 mobile antenna--it's very good across all the bands.
Good luck with your move.
Perfect! Mark and all thanks for the helpful information and advice.
DJ11DLN
Member
Many moons ago, I once cross-bred an RS all-band trunk-lip mount mobile scanner antenna with a gutter mount from a CB antenna. Yes, most vehicles used to have rain gutters on them (giving up my age here). I used it on a house gutter where I lived at the time...but those were old-school steel gutters and most today are aluminum. It worked fairly well for what it was but I don't see a gutter holding up a discone either.
Discone- the Tram model is sturdy, solid steel radials. Do not buy a disone that has hollow radials, metal fatigue will take them down sooner or later. (I speak from experience here.)
CanesFan95
Analog already is interoperable.
I once considered attaching an antenna to a vent pipe and was strongly advised not to because the wind load will slowly wobble the vent pipe over time and may gradually cause a small roof leak that will let rain in.
The gutter is aluminum, most likely, so the mag mount will not stick.
How about a J mount, like is used with many satellite dishes, to mount your discone?
How about a J mount, like is used with many satellite dishes, to mount your discone?
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