rtl dongle antenna DIY help

[mikebxb]

On my dongle cord to magnet base with threaded male end to screw the little dongle antenna.
can't i throw the 3" dongle antenna away? & doesn't somebady make a longer antenna that will screw on the existing magnetic base? or adapter????

 

[PiccoIntegra]

If you have an old Radio Shack Pro 2006, that antenna will screw onto the base of the stock RTL adapter. I use it all the time..

 

[joeuser]

If you have an old Radio Shack Pro 2006, that antenna will screw onto the base of the stock RTL adapter. I use it all the time..

That's genius!

 

[joeuser]

On my dongle cord to magnet base with threaded male end to screw the little dongle antenna.
can't i throw the 3" dongle antenna away? & doesn't somebady make a longer antenna that will screw on the existing magnetic base? or adapter????

Yes, you can get adapters for less than 5$ & hook it up to anything you like. Having said that, I monitor a TRS that's within a quarter mile of my shack & the included antennas work fine.

 

[mikebxb]

I went to radio shack for some adapter hahahahahah. boy that place has gone south...batteries and last years cell phones etc

 

[reconrider8]

Heck I can run 3 towers in my area on the stickies and they run fine of course they are 800mhz trs

 

[KD8DVR]

I got one of these:

UHF So 239 Male to Y 2X MCX RG316 Combiner Cable 6" Antenna Devices Switch GPS | eBay

Then from there, an antenna with a bnc to pl-259 adapter.

 

[rbm]

If you're using dongles, you may as well order some adapters.
Sooner or later you'll want them.

I use this setup on my Android with the rtl2832 and RF Analyzer apps.


You can use a rubber band to hold the antenna.


In the house, use pigtails like these.


Rich

 

[xrorx]

I replaced the antenna with an alligator clip on the end of the cable and clipped that to a long wire I have strung in my apartment. Just another idea.

 

[Voyager]

If you have an old Radio Shack Pro 2006, that antenna will screw onto the base of the stock RTL adapter. I use it all the time..

There is no such thing as a stock adapter. The RTLs come with am MCX connector and a mag mount antenna (unless you mean the mag mount base).

I use BNC adapters with mine.

 

[mikebxb]

There is no such thing as a stock adapter. The RTLs come with am MCX connector and a mag mount antenna (unless you mean the mag mount base).

I use BNC adapters with mine.

Yes I mean the 'MAG MOUNT BASE" that has a male thread on top to screw the antenna on. wonder if you could get from that thread to a BNC or SMA connector to try different antennae

 

[Voyager]

I use pigtails with a BNC-F. I'm not sure the MCX connector can take that much stress without a pigtail.

BTW, the R820T2 dongles come with a telescopic antenna that is (collapsed) a little less than the size of the UHF whip that the 820Ts come with. Same base - different antenna.

But, I never tried another antenna with it. I bet the old 210 era antennas would work with it, too. Never thought to try them. Thanks for the tip.

 

[PACNWDude]

I just cut my antenna cable and soldered a BNC connector on it. Then adapters as needed for whichever antennas I decide to use. One is using and old Motorola handheld antenna. Another is on a VHF whisker, probably a Laird.

One I kept the stock antenna, for use at work. But it is deaf to many frequencies. Was made for DVB television, so it will be resonant for everything.

 

[Voyager]

I just cut my antenna cable and soldered a BNC connector on it. Then adapters as needed for whichever antennas I decide to use. One is using and old Motorola handheld antenna. Another is on a VHF whisker, probably a Laird.

One I kept the stock antenna, for use at work. But it is deaf to many frequencies. Was made for DVB television, so it will be resonant for everything.

But it was cut for about 400 MHz. Actually, it works pretty well on UHF (as you would expect). But, for other bands it's pretty poor.

 

[BrotherStare]

I cut the cable off the included antenna and made an antenna like this one with coat hangers
Software Defined Radio for Mariners: Beginner - Antennas

eventually you'll want some pigtail adapters off ebay to connect the dongle to a better antenna