PAGANC412912
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I need a short portable VHF BNC Antenna but with high gain for railfanning. Any suggesting?
VHF Stubby?
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Hit_Factor
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Doesn't exist.
High gain and short don't work together.
High gain and short don't work together.
PAGANC412912
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Stock it is I'm guessing. I run a RH77CA normally but I will be taking Amtrak to my railfan spots in Pittsburgh. Wanted to record the trip without having a massive antenna but something better than stock.
a stubby is exact opposite ... it is barley a 50 ohm Dummy load . I have seen a 5/8 wave whip that was made for the USFS it was nearly 12" .. Use a standard 6-7" whip and you will get what you need.
wtp
Member
not high gain,, but boy can you hide a radio with this.Portable Single-Band Antennas for Police Scanner Radios | ScannerMaster.com
Portable Single-Band Antennas for Police Scanner Radios.
www.scannermaster.com
Diamond Antenna RH707 Diamond Antenna Dual-Band HT Antennas | DX Engineering
Free Shipping - Diamond Antenna Dual-Band HT Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Handheld and Scanner Antennas at DX Engineering.
Quality. 8 1/4" Not stubby BUT better than stock by far.
Alternative, Watson W-801W-801 Regular Gainer BNC Portable Antenna | Scanner Master
ecps92
Member
Generally works quite well, picked up similar from RS at closing
Great for on-scene monitoring
Amazon.com : Radioshack Stubby Race Scanner Antenna 1.7 Inches (43mm) High BNC Connector : Vehicle Audio Video Antennas : Electronics
Amazon.com : Radioshack Stubby Race Scanner Antenna 1.7 Inches (43mm) High BNC Connector : Vehicle Audio Video Antennas : Electronics
www.amazon.com
Great for on-scene monitoring
Had both of these at one time - the ScannerMaster stubby and the Radio Shack Race antenna. I found that the cheaper and not as glossy looking Radio Shack antenna waaaaaaay out-performed the ScannerMaster stubby. Of course I didn't expect anything much from pretty much close to a dummy load in size but I was surprised how much better the RS stubby worked versus the much more expensive (at the time) Scanner Master stubby.
Eventually, I got really curious and cut off the outer covering of the Scanner Master stubby (since it performed so poorly I never really used it anyway). What I found was just about an 1/8th to 1/4 inch piece of wire, stiff, maybe 20 gauge, can't recall exactly, soldered to the center pin of the male BNC plug with some potting or glue or something around the base (I think - been awhile) and then, well, that's pretty much it! Just the outer vinyl plastic glossy coating.
I never opened up the RS stubby but I assume it has at least a little more metal in it, maybe a short coil or large inductor or tiny loops of wire, I know it had a stiff rigid plastic outer covering not the sorta-flexible vinyl thing on the better looking but comparitively far worse performing Scanner Master stubby. So would be a more difficult operation to break open. Plus, it really worked well for me (for what I wanted knowing full well its obvious limitations) and proved its functionality and effectiveness so I never really wanted to destructively dissassemble it.
But it always did amaze me how much the admittedly "more handsome" ScannerMaster stubby cost yet how poorly performing and electrically constructed it was compared to the much lower cost RS stubby!
It would be easy to reproduce the ScannerMaster stubby yourself but maybe not in an as pretty a package: take a male BNC plug and solder a short 20 gauge stiff wire to the center pin, about a quater inch or so, and then put some caulking or glue around the whole thing and, well, there ya go! Expect performance matching appearance and you're all set!
Then I suppose, if you wanted to you could come up with some cool outer covering for the mess take a picture of it and put it on Ebay, call it the "Baby Unicorn SuperGainer ScannerStub Miracle Antenna" or some such with 20dB of gain (over a point source buried in 50 meters of lead in a cave a mile down or so...) and sell it for a profit! Just sayin...
-Mike
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The best Rubber Duck antenna for the railband that I've found is this one, but I wouldn't call it short,
However it is flexible and doesn't get in the way "too" much. They have shorter models tuned to the railband as well but performance probably suffers.
5/8 Slim Duck 160 MHZ
www.smileyantenna.com
However it is flexible and doesn't get in the way "too" much. They have shorter models tuned to the railband as well but performance probably suffers.
A step up from the one in post #5 as for size. I use it with my HTs when working in close with others simplex. Comes in SMA version if needed
Hit_Factor
Member
I bought a couple of those for use on ID-51A plus 2 HTs, everything was static. I threw them away. Glad it works for your needs.
To the OP, a Diamond RH519 may work well enough. It is BNC and one could cut it down to RX better for rail freqs. You'll obviously want an analyzer to do that. It is definitely not high gain.
Anyways, I use those Diamond RHF10 stubby antennas as well, mainly for RX. Flexible and fine for nearby, or strong signals. They are definitely tuned for the VHF and UHF amateur bands. They are not high gain, especially for rail freqs. I often use one on a VX3R which keeps things really tidy. Even at 1.5W and using that Diamond antenna, one may be surprised how far it can work effectively.
I also own several of those tiny 1" stubby antennas. I think a paper clip may work better. Still, they work well enough with my tiny low power fox hunt transmitters...you know for when you don't want a signal to be heard that well.
Anyways, I use those Diamond RHF10 stubby antennas as well, mainly for RX. Flexible and fine for nearby, or strong signals. They are definitely tuned for the VHF and UHF amateur bands. They are not high gain, especially for rail freqs. I often use one on a VX3R which keeps things really tidy. Even at 1.5W and using that Diamond antenna, one may be surprised how far it can work effectively.
I also own several of those tiny 1" stubby antennas. I think a paper clip may work better. Still, they work well enough with my tiny low power fox hunt transmitters...you know for when you don't want a signal to be heard that well.
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