So now im looking at the DPD 118-1000 LP. If i face the back to the west, where there is nothing to hear anyway, i think ill do ok. as long as it picks up from 8 o'clock to 4 o'clock. I very rich man once told me " I dont mind spending my money, as long as i only have to spend it once" If i go with the discone i think ill always wish i had spent the extra $80. I think you guys saved me from doing a stupid thing. Thanks.
I'd go with the Create Industries RLPA that Wayne mentioned & not the DPD product.
Two reasons:
1. I've had & used the Create Industries model in the past, so I have first-hand experience with it.
2. The DPD business web page was absolutely HORRIBLE last time I looked at it (which was about 3 or 4 months ago). It made a lot of claims without backing them up with specifications. I'd be happy to rant on it if someone wants to make a separate post.
It's not necessarily a stupid thing to have a discone antenna, it just depends on the resources (radios, roof-top space & attitude of family/neighbors/landlord).
Back when I had that Create Industries rotatable log periodic antenna antenna up, it was hooked up to an Icom R-7100 communications receiver, which was a great radio, but not a great 'scanner.' So I also had a good discone antenna up on the roof, & that was hooked up to a great scanner.
The scanner/discone setup was used for general purpose scanning & searching, while the R-7100 & RLPA were used for targeting certain locations/frequencies & minor RDF'ing. Using about 30' of Belden 9913 coax, late at night with the RLPA pointed in the right direction, I could hear analog cellular towers located around 35 air-miles away, 200 milliwatt VHF 'body-bugs' located about 2 miles away, & some TV & FM broadcast stations 150+ miles away (further of course during ducting/skip).
I realize that right now, you just have one scanner --and a very good one it is-- it'll work fine for most local stuff no matter what direction the antenna is pointed in, but there will also be some weak to moderate signals that you could hear with a discone but will miss with the RLPA because it'll be pointed the wrong way, and you can't constantly be swinging it around back & forth like it's a RADAR antenna.
So please do look into the Create Industries RLPAs, and while an RLPA will be a great antenna for you, they're best employed in conjunction with a good omnidirectional antenna, unless you live on the moon & just want to pick up stuff from Earth (or vice versa).
Hoolie