antenna recommendations for ICOM R-9000?

[Fairchild]

I am completely new to this. the R-9000 was my grandfathers, and now i want to start using it. I've been searching the internet blindly trying to figure out which antennas would be best. I contacted ICOM, and they were not very helpful.

I know i need 3 antennas that each pick up different frequency ranges in order to get full use of the receiver. i have no interest in transmitting at this time. i would just like to listen to radio from all over the world.

could someone point me in the right direction and recommend some antennas?

thanks!!!!

 

[LtDoc]

Just for grins and because you will need some basis for comparison for antennas, try this.

Assuming you live in a house where you can do it, try throwing a long'ish wire over the roof and then attaching it to the antenna connector on your receiver. It won't be particularly 'optimized' for any particular band, but it'll do better than you might think for almost all bands. It will give you something to compare other antennas to, which can be helpful. It can also give you a means of finding out which bands you may be interested in, which ones you aren't. Antenna 'size' is frequency related. Higher frequency antennas are 'smaller' than lower frequency antennas. A VERY rough rule of thumb (that's a 'ROT' by the way ) is the bigger and higher the better to some absolutely ridiculous extent.
Have fun.
- 'Doc

 

[haleve]

R9000 Antennas

Try the Austin Ferret for VHF/UHF & the Solarcon A-99 for HF, I use both on my R8500, read their reviews on eham.

eHam.net Home - Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Community Site

 

[Fairchild]

- Doc

i will try this. it seems like it could work.

- Haleve

Are most antennas as large as the ones you mentioned? I think i want to look at some options for indoor/attic antennas, but i assume they don't perform as well as large roof mounted antennas?


Thanks

 

[haleve]

X-treme antennas

The Ferret is 8' tall & the A-99 is twice as tall but they pale in comparison to such monsters as the Create log periodic for VHF/UHF work or some of the multiband trap horizontals for the hf ham bands, check them out here.

www.aesham.com

www.universal-radio.com

 

[Fairchild]

i don't think i'll have anywhere to securely mount antennas that large.

are there any smaller antennas?

 

[majoco]

Before you leap into a Solarcon A99 have a read at....


http://www.g0vqy.co.uk/pdf/a99.pdf

....I believe that solar"CON" is the right name!:smile

 

[Fairchild]

Before you leap into a Solarcon A99 have a read at....


http://www.g0vqy.co.uk/pdf/a99.pdf

....I believe that solar"CON" is the right name!:smile

This is a great example of why i wanted to ask questions on this forum before spending any money.

thank you majoco!

 

[mancow]

Think of that radio as an exotic sports car. Think of the antennas as the tires. If you feed it the right input you will surely be amazed at what it can do. I can only dream of having one.

 

[LtDoc]

About that link to the 'A99'. There are some 'problems' in that link/information. Converting between dBi and dBd is one of them and gives a wrong impression. The differences between a 1/2 wav radiator and a 5/8 wave radiator is less than given, there may be a dB of difference in gain. The biggy is the shape of the resulting radiation pattern, and there certainly is (can be) one. A 5/8 wave antenna tends to have a 'flatter' radiation pattern, not quite so much high angle radiation. That isn't necessarily always a good thing. Signals arrive at an antenna at a LOT of different angles, not just low ones (propagation dependent). So at times, an antenna with a higher reception angle may 'hear' better than one with a lower one.
By the way, that 'article has been around for a long time. I won't say it it's true, but it certainly isn't a 'definitive' thingy at all. I only know of one way to find the 'best' antenna for any particular set of circumstances. I'll bet you can guess what that is...
- 'Doc