800 MHz Antennas

[KT4HX]

I've done some searching for info on 800 MHz antennas, of the base and mobile varieties, with the emphasis on professional grade quality. Does anyone have any experience with specific brands/models they have used for base and mobile setups? In particular for base, looking at a yagi or reflector type to use with a rotator. For mobile, wonder what people's experience has been. I'm not real keen on magmounts, but reluctant to drill holes. I have a Chevy S-10 with a bed liner, so not sure what my best alternative would be for a mount. Any feedback based on real life experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[doctordave]

I bought the 2-2067 from Larry at BNCANTENNA.com and am tremendously impressed w/ the 800 range for rural use....if you are in a metro area, you'll likely get too much overload from cellular/Nextel services - I certainly did.....ultimately found my best local performance with an uncut whip that's approx 20 inches ($8)- great performance on VHF-Hi, OK on UHF and great locally on 800. I went with an NMO trunk lip mount w/ low-loss "micro-900" cable ($18) from RFWIZ.com - outstanding combo & dirt cheap. Plenty of other great choices out there, as well.

Hope this helps.

Dave

 

[doctordave]

Not sure what's up w/ the smiley faces.....they came up where "eights" should have been....antenna whip was eight bucks.....cable/trunk lip was eighteen.

 

[JohnWayne]

I like Antenex for mobile antennas, and their base antennas are really nice, too. They are definitely professional-grade. Take a look at Scanner Antennas for some 800MHz yagis and handheld antennas, and 800MHZ Mobile Antennas for some 800MHz mobile antennas. The most popular yagi is the 6-element 9dB silver YS8066. The most popular 800MHz mobile antennas are the QW8063 and the QWB8063 (black version). The low profile Phantom mobile antennas are also very popular.

As far as mounting, I would just take the plunge and drill some holes. You will get the best performance that way, and you don't have to worry about flimsy mag mounts or stake bed mounts. One word of advice, I would use specialized NMO hole saw and NOT something you get from the hardware store. Regular holesaws will rip through your headliner. Take a look at Mobile Antenna Mounts for some quality mounts. The most popular mount is the Antenex MB8. You can get it with a variety of connectors loose or installed. I also have some with low-loss RG8X coax, model number is MB8X. You can put any of these model numbers in the search box on the left side of your screen to bring up that product's info.

PM, email, or call me if I can be of any assistance.

Thanks!
Jeff

 

[KT4HX]

Thanks for the info guys, and look forward to further feedback from others. Question on roof mounting, I assume when you remove the antennas there is some plug or something that is available to fill in the hole if you wanna sell the vehicle?

 

[JohnWayne]

You can either have a body shop fix it for under $100, or you can use a rubber plug like this one. There are also metal hole plugs available, but they tend to rust out. That is why I prefer the rubber ones.

Jeff

 

[Voyager]

Not sure what's up w/ the smiley faces.....they came up where "eights" should have been....antenna whip was eight bucks.....cable/trunk lip was eighteen.

Remember that the board is a computer. When it sees 8 followed immediately by an ), it takes it as a smiley since that's the code FOR that particular smiley. So, rather than typing this: 8), type this: 8 ) (add a space).

Oh, as for antennas, I prefer Motorola or Celwave. There are a lot of other brands that aren't bad, either. Look for quality construction. Solid rods are better than tubular rods. Welds are better than screws. 'N' connectors are better than UHF (in fact, I would NEVER use a UHF Connector at 800 MHz - they act like RF chokes at that frequency).

Last, the more elements, the higher the gain (the better the range/reception), but the more directional it will be, too.

Joe M.

 

[thumbtrap]

How does 800mhz do on a trunk lid mount? I figure it must work, because that's what the cops all have - but it seems like unless you have some elevation your vehicle would be masking everything to the front. I was thinking about a 1/4 wave on a trunk lid mount.

Also - how does the cable route to the trunk lid mounts? Is it a no hole connection or does it just require a hole in the trunk lid instead of the roof?

 

[JohnWayne]

800MHz works just fine on a trunk lip mount. The signal doesn't really get blocked by the vehicle body. The RF travels pretty easily through the glass, and you have diffraction around the metal edges. Bascially, it doesn't really affect performance in any way that you'll notice unless you are on the absolute fringes of coverages and you maneuver your vehicle perfectly to block the signal.

You route the cable through the gap between the lid of the trunk and body of vehicle. There are no holes required with a trunk lip mount.

You can find some 800MHz mobile antennas here and some mounts here.

Jeff

 

[thumbtrap]

Thanks - I looked at Waltel already. I need to cover roughly 850-870. I'm sure that the whip is probably not 3db down by that point, so it's probably still at least as good as the 1/4 wave. BTW - a couple of "page 2's" on your site are broken - specifcally page 2 of mounts, but I ran into a few others.

 

[JohnWayne]

You're right. It's not going to be 3dB, probably more like 2.7dB (1/4w is 0dB). The only way you're going to get an antenna cut for a center frequency of 860MHz is to custom order it or build it yourself. That being said, there are millions of those 3dB 800MHz antennas in use around the world by public safety agencies whose personnel’s' lives depend on dependable and quality communications. I don't think I've ever had anyone point out that the 806-866MHz antennas aren't cut for optimal receive-only operation. You could get a cellular antenna that covers 824-896MHz, but again the center frequency is going to be around lower part of the band since that's where all the transmitting happens. I do carry those for the same price if you want one.

I don't know what tell you about the site. I just tried it on three different computers with two different browsers and it worked. If you were by chance browsing around 8am CDT time, then you may have had trouble since we were upgrading some stuff and had to stop and start the web server a few times.

Please do let us know if you find a stock antenna with a center frequency of ~860MHz; I'd like to buy some. Sorry I couldn't accommodate you.

Thanks,
Jeff