Antenna for Milcomm Scanning

[xantegh]

Hello Team,

I'm looking at improving my military band reception as my Diamond Discone doesn't seem picking up well specially that I live 40 miles from JBLM and 60 miles from another Naval Air Station. i have seen lots of good reviews about DPD Omni X Antenna. do you agree or have another suggestion considering that i'm willing the pay extra bucks for a good reception?

 

[mmckenna]

Before you spend money on a new antenna, tell us about your coaxial cable.

How long is the run?
What type of coaxial cable is it?
What condition is it in/how old is it?
Are the connections properly waterproofed?
How high is the antenna?

I used to live up there, and if you are trying to listen to LMR systems at those bases, doing it all will be difficult unless you are in a good location.

Putting up a new antenna and not considering the coaxial cable may lead to disappointment.

 

[xantegh]

Before you spend money on a new antenna, tell us about your coaxial cable.

How long is the run?
What type of coaxial cable is it?
What condition is it in/how old is it?
Are the connections properly waterproofed?
How high is the antenna?

I used to live up there, and if you are trying to listen to LMR systems at those bases, doing it all will be difficult unless you are in a good location.

Putting up a new antenna and not considering the coaxial cable may lead to disappointment.

Good Point. thank you for the reply.
below are my answers:

- 25 ft of LMR 240 from MPD Digital
- it's 18 months old, in a good condition
- Discone D3000N connection is well sealed with the appropriate tape.
- it's on the same level of the attic but installed from outside. so i would say 20 ft above the ground.

 

[mmckenna]

Sounds good enough.

I doubt the Omni X is going to be much better, there just isn't any magic to antennas. But I've never used one myself. Seems like a lot of money for what it appears to be.

Discones don't really have any appreciable gain, so if you do have some signal to work with, you could try a band specific gain antenna, or a preamplifier at the antenna as an option. Best test would be to take your scanner up on the roof with the stock antenna and see how it does. If it does work up there but not in your home, I'd suspect a cable issue. If it doesn't work up there, then you need to explore getting your antenna up higher.

Question would be, did the discone ever work? Or was it always like this?

If it was always lacking, I don't think putting up a wide band scanner antenna like the OmniX is going to magically make it all work.

 

[xantegh]

Sounds good enough.

I doubt the Omni X is going to be much better, there just isn't any magic to antennas. But I've never used one myself. Seems like a lot of money for what it appears to be.

Discones don't really have any appreciable gain, so if you do have some signal to work with, you could try a band specific gain antenna, or a preamplifier at the antenna as an option. Best test would be to take your scanner up on the roof with the stock antenna and see how it does. If it does work up there but not in your home, I'd suspect a cable issue. If it doesn't work up there, then you need to explore getting your antenna up higher.

Question would be, did the discone ever work? Or was it always like this?

If it was always lacking, I don't think putting up a wide band scanner antenna like the OmniX is going to magically make it all work.

Yes the Discone works. I actually pick up SEATAC traffic quite well. ( Aircrafts transmission , not the ATC )

 

[a417]

what's between you and what you want to listen to, and can you go higher with your antenna?

 

[xantegh]

what's between you and what you want to listen to, and can you go higher with your antenna?

I'm at 1,070 ft elevation blocked by 3,000 ft mountain.

 

[iMONITOR]

That's a tough one!

 

[mmckenna]

I'm at 1,070 ft elevation blocked by 3,000 ft mountain.

As they say: "Well, there's your problem right there."

So, you need a 3000 foot tower. No problem.

 

[K5MPH]

If I was you I would not waste money and just stay with the Discone antenna......

 

[krokus]

I'm looking at improving my military band reception as my Diamond Discone doesn't seem picking up well specially that I live 40 miles from JBLM and 60 miles from another Naval Air Station.

Assuming JBLM is Lewis-McChord, and the NAS is Whidbey Island, you are in the Cascades, or on the Olympic Peninsula. Are you trying to monitor ground units, aviation assets that are in flight, or some other aspect?

 

[a417]

going by readily publicly available information , he's got literally on the back side of a 3000' hill between him and JBLM & the NAS. He needs HAAT.

 

[xantegh]

Assuming JBLM is Lewis-McChord, and the NAS is Whidbey Island, you are in the Cascades, or on the Olympic Peninsula. Are you trying to monitor ground units, aviation assets that are in flight, or some other aspect?

Correct, I'm referring to Lewis-McChord and Whidbey Island. I'm generally interested in the in flight aircraft and their communications with the base. I'm sure it is hard to hear the base due to multiple factors.

I was wondering, would a Yagi directed to one of them would help?

 

[mmckenna]

I was wondering, would a Yagi directed to one of them would help?

A yagi will increase the signal strength, but there has to be something there to work with. A yagi isn't going to pull a signal through a 3000' tall pile of dirt and rock.
Again, take the scanner up on the roof and see if you can hear your target. If you can, then a good external antenna should help. If you can't, it's probably unlikely that any reasonable antenna is going to do much better.

 

[a417]

Tiger Mountain park appears to be a publicly accessible hiking area, i'd hike to the side of it where you can see farther west and see how much you can pull in from elevation.

 

[krokus]

Correct, I'm referring to Lewis-McChord and Whidbey Island. I'm generally interested in the in flight aircraft and their communications with the base. I'm sure it is hard to hear the base due to multiple factors.

I was wondering, would a Yagi directed to one of them would help?

The Army will have some aviation comms on low band, that will be less directionally challenged.

You might be out of luck for Whidbey aircraft, that are in the pattern.

If you know someone who lives closer to the sound, that would let you set up a small radio, and a Raspberry Pi, you could stream from their place.

 

[ACADEMIContractor]

Save your pennies, invest in a satcom antenna, Satcom operator here, for the best radio is a Icom R6 or a IcomR30.

 

[MrColad]

Hello Team,

I'm looking at improving my military band reception as my Diamond Discone doesn't seem picking up well specially that I live 40 miles from JBLM and 60 miles from another Naval Air Station. i have seen lots of good reviews about DPD Omni X Antenna. do you agree or have another suggestion considering that i'm willing the pay extra bucks for a good reception?

If you monitor UHF military only the OmniX is overkill as it's set up to receive 118 MHz to 137 MHz, 138 MHz to 140 MHz and 225 MHz to 400 MHz. Dave has a custom designed all band antenna that would suit you better since you can have it set up for any single frequency or bandspread from 137 MHz to 460 MHz. All his antennas can be customized and are cost effective.

 

[DeepBlue]

If you want to try a directional antenna, I myself might look into a cheap television corner reflector and cut the dipole in the middle to match the freq you are interested in better. It would be a cheap option I should think, get you some gain without becoming a razor sharp beam and if it doesn't work you will have had fun playing with aluminum. One mistake some folks might make is, if you use too directional an antenna you will miss the flying transmissions. Check the antenna patterns and make sure you aren't making things worse by going to too much antenna. Gain means you are giving up something, almost always its some part of the the Omni pattern. Another possibility is a specific preamp. Look at the ones from Advanced Receivers specific ranges. I use their MilSat preamp myself.

P military

www.advancedreceiver.com

Best of luck,
S.