SDR# Antenna and cable

[ggmitchell]

Im running a RTL-SDR and a Nooelec-SDR on SDRTrunk and CubicSDR. The Trunk frequencies come in well. Cant get any UHF or VHF ham or aviation frequencies with the small antenna's that came with either kit so Im going to purchase a Tram 1410 discone to put in my attic or on an outside pole. What cable should I use, R6 ?
And what splitter to purchase to feed both SDR's Thank in advance.

 

[k9wkj]

rg6 will be fine
and easy to implement

 

[mmckenna]

What cable should I use, R6 ?
And what splitter to purchase to feed both SDR's Thank in advance.

Depends entirely on how long the cable run is. As length goes up, so does feed line losses. If it's a short run, RG-6 will work just fine. If it's longer, say 100 feet or so, you may benefit slightly from a higher grade cable.

 

[mmckenna]

What cable should I use, R6 ?
And what splitter to purchase to feed both SDR's Thank in advance.

To add to this….
Make sure you look at all your connections before buying anything. Most of the SDR's I've seen use SMA antenna connectors. Finding SMA connectors for RG-6 will be a challenge. Installing the connectors can be a challenge, also.

You can use adapters to go between F connectors on the RG-6 and SMA. Ideally you do want to avoid having too many adapters as while they do add a tiny bit of additional loss, they are more frequently weak spots that fail and cause frustration.

As for splitters, it depends. There are some that are just simple splitters that will take your antenna input and split it to two outputs. They are cheap and easy. Drawback is that they take the available signal from the antenna and split it in half. That means of the signal you receive, a bit less than half will make it to each SDR. That can be a problem for weak signal work.
You can get amplified splitters that will amplify the signal to not only overcome the losses in the splitter, but will boost the signal a bit. That can be really helpful, but alas, if you are in a high RF environment, the amplifier will amplify everything in its passband, even things you don't want. Too much signal, even outside the frequency you want to listen to, can overload the receiver and cause problems.

So, as always, no easy answers. Well, maybe one. Run two separate antennas and feed each receiver independently. But probably not a budget friendly solution.

 

[k9wkj]

Finding SMA connectors for RG-6 will be a challenge

the easy way out is cheap and easy adapter

 

[mmckenna]

the easy way out is cheap and easy adapter

You can use adapters to go between F connectors on the RG-6 and SMA. Ideally you do want to avoid having too many adapters as while they do add a tiny bit of additional loss, they are more frequently weak spots that fail and cause frustration.

I've learned over the years to never take the "easy way out". Easy way out usually results in a late night callout, uphill both ways in the snow. For hobby use, it doesn't matter, but I tend to carry the skills I've learned on the job over to what I do as a hobby.