Thank u very much Tom I'll try again this weekend on the 33 mix band. I may need a discone antenna. I'm using a 2m j pole now.
2018 VHF Low Band Logs
- Thread starter kkn50
- Start date
- Status
nd5y
Member
Discones and 2 meter J-poles are useless for the 30-50 MHz band.
I am mainly receiving 46.06 appears to be Baltimore county, MN in the 46 band, CHP, and CT in the 33 band.
My discone is about 12 feet off the top of my roof, probably 28 feet off of the ground with LMR 400.
I have heard skip on 46.06 and CHP with just the antenna on back of the 536.
My discone is about 12 feet off the top of my roof, probably 28 feet off of the ground with LMR 400.
I have heard skip on 46.06 and CHP with just the antenna on back of the 536.
It's hopping right now.
To the best of my knowledge, that propagation map is based on 144 MHz RF (APRS packets) and not 30-80 MHz traffic. If you observe a correlation great, but just be aware of what that resource is basing its map on.
Yes, that map is worthless in regard to lowband.
Hey Tom what kind of antenna do you use?
nd5y
Member
I don't have any outside antennas and none for low band. Everything else is off topic for this thread.
Why do you say discones are not useful for low band? The specs and user reports would seem to be opposite of that.
Sent using Tapatalk
You also have to define the type of Discone. I have several huge ones designed for 30 to 80MHz and they would be hard to beat for VHF low band reception.
nd5y
Member
If it's one of the discones designed for 100 MHz or so it will be usless on low band.
If it's one of the above with a base loaded whip on top it will still suck on low band.
I had them before.
If it's one of the above with a base loaded whip on top it will still suck on low band.
I had them before.
I'm gonna try a 10 meter dipole
The diameter of the elements will affect how well that will work. (Unless you externally tune the antenna, or increase the Q.)
Sent using Tapatalk
Low Band antennas
I have 2 RS discones on the roof which work well on low band. I had an issue several years ago where the center coil separated from the whip and I resoldered it; haven't had any issues since. They have been up for 20 years now with RG8 cable. I also use a 6mtr Ringo for our net on 51 MHz on Sunday evenings. The Ringo will outperform the discone in that particular freq range; but the Ringo has a narrow bandwidth of about 3MHz where the swr is below 2. Outside of 50.8 - 53.8 the discone will outperform the Ringo as the discone's swr is fairly flat, less than 2 across the 30 - 88 MHz range. Even if you cut a 10 or 11 meter antenna for a range of low band freqs, they will outperform a discone in the narrow range (maybe 3 - 5 MHz bandwidth); while outside of those ranges the discone will be the top performer due to its flat swr. If I use the Ringo for SSB comms in the lower 50 MHz range I use an antenna tuner which will then outperform the discone. If your discone with a vertical whip is a poor performer on low band then there may be a cable issue or some short somewhere in the antenna or cable; but I wouldn't say they are poor performers on low band.
Rich
I have 2 RS discones on the roof which work well on low band. I had an issue several years ago where the center coil separated from the whip and I resoldered it; haven't had any issues since. They have been up for 20 years now with RG8 cable. I also use a 6mtr Ringo for our net on 51 MHz on Sunday evenings. The Ringo will outperform the discone in that particular freq range; but the Ringo has a narrow bandwidth of about 3MHz where the swr is below 2. Outside of 50.8 - 53.8 the discone will outperform the Ringo as the discone's swr is fairly flat, less than 2 across the 30 - 88 MHz range. Even if you cut a 10 or 11 meter antenna for a range of low band freqs, they will outperform a discone in the narrow range (maybe 3 - 5 MHz bandwidth); while outside of those ranges the discone will be the top performer due to its flat swr. If I use the Ringo for SSB comms in the lower 50 MHz range I use an antenna tuner which will then outperform the discone. If your discone with a vertical whip is a poor performer on low band then there may be a cable issue or some short somewhere in the antenna or cable; but I wouldn't say they are poor performers on low band.
Rich
Been using the A-99 has worked very well for years on lowband
Yes, but an antenna actually tuned for that band can work 10 to 20dB better, that's a huge difference.
yep also have one of them i ordered from ebay as well as one I ordered from the copper J-Pole Man it worked very well however being copper a recent hurricane took it down
ion_op
Member
What is the STS2 antenna?
- Status
