As skeptical as I've been, I'm rooting for this one! Please keep us posted.
COMPACtenna SCANNER
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As skeptical as I've been, I'm rooting for this one! Please keep us posted.
NC1
Member
It would appear that China already has a cheap knockoff,
and it looks like something I could have built myself with a short visit to Lowe's plumbing department.
I can only imagine what they have stuck inside that thing.
but here it is:
OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
and it looks like something I could have built myself with a short visit to Lowe's plumbing department.
I can only imagine what they have stuck inside that thing.
but here it is:OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
prcguy
Member
I ran into Dr. Jack at the Dayton hamster fest today and will track him down tomorrow for some in depth discussion of his antenna design. This should be interesting.
If it's anything like the two previous V/U/7/800 models, on receive it's about the same as a 1/4 wave whip, and not really any better or worse.
prcguy
Member
I had a nice chat today with Dr. Jack, very nice guy and we went over a few things on the COMPACtenna and I now understand them better. We also covered some other topics and overall I could probably have blabbed with him for a couple of hours. Its interesting to find out he visits Radio Reference but will probably not post here due to the time it may consume.
Were you able to aquire the new COMPACtenna SCANNER III antenna? I would really be interested in testing results.
I just opened mine mail just ran gonna make a small run and test.
prcguy
Member
I only have the tri band amateur version at the moment. I don't need another scanner antenna but may get one in the future just to satisfy my curiosity.
nd5y
Member
Is he a crackpot? Is his antenna theory BS?
Call it what you want it works better than my bmax100 or Larson triband just proved that to my self. If it is worth 3 times the bmax100 or Larson only you can answer.
prcguy
Member
We discussed some stuff about Dr. Jacks COMPACtenna and after I put them into my own words we basically agree on many things. In the brief signal strength test I did on 2m, 220, 440, I found it equal to or slightly better than a full 1/4 wave whip on 2m and maybe slightly worse on 220 and 440. That was on a parked vehicle and I need to do further testing, especially comparing how solid the antenna performs around the hills in my area against a 1/4 wave whip while in motion.
Some of the claims of this antenna is its ability to ride through multipath problem areas compared to other antennas and that doesn't necessarily mean its got more gain than a 1/4 wave whip or some other standard. In fact there is no claim it has more gain than type X or brand X. I do think its interesting and positive that it just about equals a 1/4 wave whip on 2m yet its less than half the length of a 2m 1/4 wave whip. That says a lot right there and I think it targets an audience looking for a smaller profile antenna.
Some of the claims of this antenna is its ability to ride through multipath problem areas compared to other antennas and that doesn't necessarily mean its got more gain than a 1/4 wave whip or some other standard. In fact there is no claim it has more gain than type X or brand X. I do think its interesting and positive that it just about equals a 1/4 wave whip on 2m yet its less than half the length of a 2m 1/4 wave whip. That says a lot right there and I think it targets an audience looking for a smaller profile antenna.
I'm curious do you have it mounted in the center of your vehicle? Was it a permanent mount or mag mount?
I'm certainly interested in getting one, I thinking about removing the shark fin mount towards the back of my Subaru Outback and installing a NMO mount in its place. I've been thinking of doing this for a while but I decided to go with a luggage rack mount instead because I can reach it and fold it over by just rolling down the window, which I need to do to get into my garage. I didn't want to have to get out of the car and unscrew the antenna off the NMO mount each time I went in and out of the garage, but with the COMPACtenna I won't have to do that, then I will have an NMO mount available if I want to put a 5/8 wave up there for a trip etc. I wish I had found out about these about a month sooner as I probably would't have spent the money on the luggage rack mount for my Subaru.
The eBay listing shows UHF/VHF in the headline but the "Item Specifics" list it only as a VHF.It would appear that China already has a cheap knockoff,
and it looks like something I could have built myself with a short visit to Lowe's plumbing department.
I can only imagine what they have stuck inside that thing.
OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
RFI-EMI-GUY
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How is that a knock off? It appears to be simply a dual band antenna, of which there are many.It would appear that China already has a cheap knockoff,
and it looks like something I could have built myself with a short visit to Lowe's plumbing department.
I can only imagine what they have stuck inside that thing.
OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
prcguy
Member
My testing was on a permanent mount in the center of the roof causing the SWR on 2m to be a little elevated. There is supposed to be a mag mount or two on the market that has the NMO elevated tapering down to the magnet which should help with the match on this antenna.
Center of the plane isn't the optimal location for this antenna, as is explained in it's literature. I know that's counter-intuitive to what we most all learned, but this is a different design and theory. I'm getting up to speed on an analyzer I just bought, and hope to sweep one on a friend's truck soon.
prcguy
Member
I believe the reason for mounting near the edge of a roof is for matching. This antenna probably has a lot more capacitance between its radiating element(s) and the surrounding ground plane and removing some ground plane or bending ground radials down will improve the match, at least on 2m. I don't think bending ground radials downward will affect the radiation pattern at the horizon very much.
Now that you've had this for awhile are you still satisfied with it? Are you using it with or without the ground plane or is it on a vehicle?
I am very happy with this antenna for the last 3 weeks I have been making regular trips to Memphis I got to test with my bmax1000 on one 325p2 and this antenna on my 2nd 325p2 both programmed alike and this antenna has better range.
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