Well I have ordered the COMPACtenna SCAN III scanner antenna comes in 5/18/2019 I will test next week and see how it works in my area.
As skeptical as I've been, I'm rooting for this one! Please keep us posted.
Well I have ordered the COMPACtenna SCAN III scanner antenna comes in 5/18/2019 I will test next week and see how it works in my area.
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.I will be interested to see how this works for the railband if you feel like testing that.
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.
Is he a crackpot? Is his antenna theory BS?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.
Is he a crackpot? Is his antenna theory BS?
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.
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. but here it is:
OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
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. but here it is:
OPX-350 Antenna UHF/VHF High Gain 100W Car Radio Mobile With UHF Male Connector | eBay
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.
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.
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.