BCD536HP vs Old Discone

[GargoylesRus]

Hello fellow scanner folks,

First off, I bought some nice cable for my antenna RG8x 50' prepared with BNC Male for the scanner and PL259 for the antenna.
I want to know if I am going to be missing some entertainment on frequencies this antenna might be missing.
It is old I used it many years ago to listen in but of course things were a bit different then with frequencies and the way they are handled now.
I am not sure if I need to bite the bullet and spend on one of those I refer to as porcupine antennas, I have no need to tx I'm not into broadcast
just listening.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gar

p.s. Here are a couple of photos of my old dinosaur.

 

[murphcc1]

First off I'd say get that puppy higher than what you have there!!!!
Others will chime in about the technical things.

 

[GargoylesRus]

Yeah I know, that isn't it's final resting place, it was temporary to get some photos I could post.
Interim it is about 10' higher now, helped some but if others say I'm not missing much then it is going on the tv mast above the peak of the
roof at about 22' or so.
Thanks
Gar

p.s. Thanks to the Moderator that moved me to the correct place in forum. I'm not the best at finding the right place to put these posts.

 

[Ubbe]

What you have are a dual band GP antenna, but as it is big it will receive on all bands and probably better than a discone on the 800MHz band.
You can see what it is tuned to by measuring the length of that big vertical element and one of the smaller ones.

You get the MHz by the formula 300 divided by the length in meters and then divide by 4 to get a 1/4 wave.

/Ubbe

 

[west-pac]

That is a stock Radio Shack scanner antenna. You don't need to worry about calculating antenna length. 🙄🤦‍♂️

 

[west-pac]

The antenna looks to be in good shape, and the coax is new, so the only thing you have to worry about is programming the actual scanner correctly. Depending on which scanner you are using, and which radio systems you want to receive, I'd say you're off to a good start.

 

[GargoylesRus]

The antenna looks to be in good shape, and the coax is new, so the only thing you have to worry about is programming the actual scanner correctly. Depending on which scanner you are using, and which radio systems you want to receive, I'd say you're off to a good start.

I did alot of cleaning on it, took out the ground plane elements and wire brushed them and reinstalled them with some dielectric silicone grease, wirebrushed the attaching bracket etc.

I made a stand off for it from some 3/8" square steel tubing, primed and clear coated that. I'm hoping it lasts for a while since it seems that I am not going to be missing anything over the air.
I couldn't clean the top elements as they seem to be pressed into the collar that they mount to.

Above it is my Channel Master antenna and rotator.

Here is a photo where it is mounted temporarily.
Thanks
Gar

 

[mule1075]

Hello fellow scanner folks,

First off, I bought some nice cable for my antenna RG8x 50' prepared with BNC Male for the scanner and PL259 for the antenna.
I want to know if I am going to be missing some entertainment on frequencies this antenna might be missing.
It is old I used it many years ago to listen in but of course things were a bit different then with frequencies and the way they are handled now.
I am not sure if I need to bite the bullet and spend on one of those I refer to as porcupine antennas, I have no need to tx I'm not into broadcast
just listening.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gar

p.s. Here are a couple of photos of my old dinosaur.

Old radio shack Sputnik antenna. It will work just fine. As said get it up higher and you will be good to go.