Antenna Identified... now look at connectors.

[CookeCityScanner]

I have an antenna here with a PL259 connector on it. I will attach pictures. It almost looks like a cb antenna but there is an identical length whip (rod) dropping from it at a 45 degree angle. I have an idea what this antenna was originally for but would love some input. Also if you look at the pics I dont see how at all the rod which drops at a 45 angle connects to or effects the vertical rod. The vertical rod seems insulated to the connector and if it isnt then that means that the whole unit, u bolts, mast and all would be part of the antenna.

One more question The cable on it is RG8U from RS which is pl 259 connectors. It is slightly different than other pl259s Ive gotten though. The RG58U pl259 has a taper at the tip of the conductor while this stuff was one solid size. It seemed harder to get on as well.

 

[Buckskinner33]

Whats the rods length?

 

[CookeCityScanner]

Sorry about that.

The rods as you can tell are coated with a coil going around them. They are both 4' in length.

 

[Buckskinner33]

Im not sure exactly, but If I was to make a guess I would say someone fabricated a Shortwave antenna using two fiberglass CB whips. The lower whip isnt connected making it a reflector to increase the reception.

I could be wrong but I never seen anything like that being sold. The only thing I seen close to that was a"T" type ...Well, I cant recall what they called it but it resembled a "T" (Sorry Im a bit tired today)

Maybe someone else could chime in an add some better input to help you out.

Where did you get it? Garage sale?

 

[CookeCityScanner]

It was mounted on one of the buildings when we bought the place. We are in a very remote area so that would eliminate some uses. I dont think its for CB although its a possibility. We are 3 miles outside of Yellowstone National Park at the NE entrance. It was mounted on the office building of a motel which has 3 other buildings.

 

[CookeCityScanner]

My guess, which I didnt want to post at first, is that they used it for the OLDER model cordless phones 40-50mhz range so that they could go further out on the property and into different buildings. This would have been pre 900mhz 2.4ghz etc phones. How does that sound? CBs run 28-30mhz dont they? Would this have worked? Is this tuned better for the purpose I stated. Someone has to know how to figure out what its tuned for.

 

[Buckskinner33]

Well If the previous owner was a Short Wave Listner then that would make since. You said you was in a remote part of the country so if its old then I am assuming that what someone used a Short Wave for News or other information. Yeah your right. I dont think it would have made a good CB antenna unless they was a "Free Bander"(modified radio) but it might have been used for cb ( Who knows) I seen fences used for antennas and I have been suprised on its TX and RX.

It looks like it would be pretty mis-matched for TX

 

[Buckskinner33]

My guess, which I didnt want to post at first, is that they used it for the OLDER model cordless phones 40-50mhz range so that they could go further out on the property and into different buildings. This would have been pre 900mhz 2.4ghz etc phones. How does that sound? CBs run 28-30mhz dont they? Would this have worked? Is this tuned better for the purpose I stated. Someone has to know how to figure out what its tuned for.

Well...he he, Yeah I have heard of people doing that but they soon realize that doesnt always work.
No.. CBs are 26.965 to 27.405
10 meter HAM is 28.000 to i think 29.800 so, Yeah thats close enough.
The antennas look like CB and they would work on 10m.

But like I said earlier that lower single element look like it would make a transmitter mis-match and throw off the SWR's

 

[CookeCityScanner]

Well if that was indeed the case how did they attach the antenna to the old mobile phone base? I highly doubt it had BNC connectors or anything.


What are the 4' rods generally used for?

 

[Buckskinner33]

Well if that was indeed the case how did they attach the antenna to the old mobile phone base? I highly doubt it had BNC connectors or anything.


What are the 4' rods generally used for?

ive seen people seperate the center lead wire and the Shield solder it on to the antenna... :roll: and other crafty fellows open the base and directly solder it to the board. Again :roll: . 50 Ohm cable doesnt work out well for them then I seen 75 Ohm Coax (Cable TV stuff)

The 4 foot rods are just to support the wire leads wrapped around it. If you unwrapped the antenna wire you would find it to match what a 1/4 wave, 5/8 wave or 1/2 wave length. That what it would be if it was matched. I dont remember what the formula is off the top of my head. but the theory is that in order get a signal out you want a matched antenna with minimal or no impedance!

 

[TeRayCodA]

It's a "Hustler" Brand scanner antenna.Or,the 46/49Mhz cordless phone range extending antenna.

 

[teruso]

I think you’re right CookeCityScanner. This looks like an old 46/49MHz cordless phone antenna. The original coax that came with the antenna probably had an alligator clip to attach to the telescoping antenna on the cordless phone base unit.

It appears to be similar to the 'TELE-RANGER TCP4946' at the bottom of this page:

http://www.rainbowkits.com/scan/scan.html

 

[Buckskinner33]

Your link was a dead end... Try to repost it again

 

[Buckskinner33]

It's a "Hustler" Brand scanner antenna.Or,the 46/49Mhz cordless phone range extending antenna.

Are they still selling those?

 

[DaveH]

That antenna looks like a plain old Chicken Band antenna; a dipole made up of two loaded 1/4-wave whips. No great mystery. The fact that the lower element sticks out on an angle probably doesn't have a whole lot of effect on its operation.

Dave

 

[W4KRR]

That antenna looks like a plain old Chicken Band antenna; a dipole made up of two loaded 1/4-wave whips. No great mystery. The fact that the lower element sticks out on an angle probably doesn't have a whole lot of effect on its operation.

Dave

That's my guess, it's an old CB band dipole antenna. The fact that the whips are only four feet long means that they're helically loaded.

 

[MacombMonitor]

Years ago I saw one made up like that, only in white, for base use on the old Marine Radio Telephone systems. You're looks too new for that time.

 

[CookeCityScanner]

Thanks for all the replies. Like I said before Im pretty sure it was used for the older cordless phones. They would have needed it to be able to walk out to some of the farther areas of the property here before the 900mhz days. The cable was a pl259 connection using rg58/u wire but Im not sure what the other ends connection was.

In my house I got better reception with the standard whip than with that antenna using my BCT8 of course I didnt have any section of cable to use at the time except for a spliced section which I made myself using those male female crimp on wire connectors. Of course that could have probably cause MASSIVE signal loss anyway. I did a little test yesterday with the antenna since around here people still tend to use those "older phones" . I went outside with it with the Pro83 handheld connected with 50' of RG8 coiled up and voila picked up someone on 47.**mhz.

Now would it be better at this signal range than either of my two discones which seem to also be able to pick these up. ***Im not saying I do this as a hobby ok, just that the scanner stops on these frequencies and it just so happens I had some antenna which I didint really know what it was for***

I guess I would have to find an open transmission and mount both antennas near each other on top of the building and switch them and see which was clearer. I actually dont think Ill bother since its no use to me as a tx antenna anymore. UNLESS you guys think its a cb whip really. I sure wish there was a way to tell.

I can say one thing, on the back of the metal plate the rods and ubolts go into there are the remains of a sticker which looks sort of like the warning stickers that come on many of the antennas you buy today. There is nothign left to make out from it but it makes me assume it was even store bought.


The fact that the downward rod ISNT connected to the antenna truly just means it acts as a reflector like buck said then right?

 

[CapnJon]

I had a friend who had one of those about 10 years ago...It was a cordless phone extender antenna.

 

[CookeCityScanner]

So perhaps its tuned for 46-49mhz better than my discones are. I should test that out maybe. Not that there is really a need for an antenna like that anymore. Are there any other uses for those frequencies other than the old phones.

Once again the lower antenna just reflects signals up to the actual antenna or what?