Antenna Opinions

[KT4HX]

Anyone have any experience with either of these two antennas:

DPD OmniX

PAR Mon-3

If so, would appreciate your opinion of their performance in the VHF/UHF/800 ranges. Comparison to other antennas is always welcome. Thanks....

 

[brian]

I have a PAR Mon-3 up about 25 feet using 40 feet of LMR-400 as feedline. It's quite good on VHF and UHF. It's mediocre on 800. It uses a UHF connector, which I think compromises its 800 performance.

Compared to the Radio Shack 20-176, I think it works better. It's much sturdier in its construction. And I like its lower profile than, say, a Scan-tenna or large discone.

I hope someone can give a performance comparison of the PAR Mon-3 with a Niljon.

Hope that helps.

 

[KT4HX]

Thanks Brian. I have used the Nil-Jon mobile antenna, and personally I wasn't overly impressed. I know others may have a differing view, but I still prefer my Larsen 150/450/800 mobile for my BCD996T in the truck. I haven't used the base model, and would always appreciate any comments on it's performance as well from those that have one.

 

[brian]

I also have a Larsen 150/450/800 on my truck, and I am very pleased with it.

Back to the Mon-3, I find that I have more than one radio going at a time. I usually have a radio dedicated to monitoring trunked radio systems for trunker. So I opted to install a Maxrad 800MHz 3dB-gain omni antenna as well as a Maxrad 7-elemet 800MHz yagi on my mast. I'm able to match my scanners to the antennas and program them to take advantage of particular bands.

I chose the Mon-3 because of its more reasonable price as compared to the Nil-jon, its lower profile and its sturdier construction. I'm not blown away by its performance but I think it's a good value.

Like most folks here say, you can't have enough radios. The same is true for antennas.