big dilemma

[rafale01010]

I am stuck between 3 choices for a base antennae at the house. I was thinking about getting a discone antennae .then a spider antenna(similar to discone a couple ways) and lastly the Scantenna. In your opinion what would the best bang for the buck?

 

[Paulsan]

One of these would be a good choice. (I'm biased since I bought a Omni-X)

http://www.dpdproductions.com/page_scanner.html

 

[thewenk]

I agree with Paulsan, but I'm also biased because I own an Omni-X antenna-it works great for me. Been there and done that with the antennas you listed and I'm now using an Omni-X

Dave

 

[zz0468]

I'm partial to the discone, myself. I Kreco discones. Pricey, but worth it.

Some people rave about how well the Scantenna works, which I don't doubt, but there are several threads here about how easily they fall apart.

 

[Blkops]

heard a lot of good about DPD, just bought one myself as my first antenna

 

[rafale01010]

What range does the Omni X get before i put money on it?and how reliable?

 

[N1BHH]

What range does the Omni X get before i put money on it?and how reliable?

Range depends on many factors. How high you put your antenna. What kind of feedline. Terrain, weather conditions, tropospheric ducting, your location, if you are in a bowl, good luck, if on a mountain you won't need much.

 

[hoser147]

For the Best bang for the Buck I would have to say the Scantenna, Very impressive antenna for around 30 bucks. I have three Discones, and havent tried Daves OmniX although Ive read good and a couple of not so good reviews, it still sounds like one heck of an antenna.I know some people that have had the scantenna up for years unreinforced with out a problem, but I also know of people that it came apart during the perfect storm and wish they would have taken 5 minutes to reinforce the antenna, but its a great preformer on all bands for the money. Good Luck Hoser

 

[Paulsan]

The only bad thing I've heard about the Scantenna is the issue of strength during wind and ice. By all accounts this can be overcome with the reinforcement. And the price is incredibly cheap.

My problem with it was the size. The wife would have had a cow if I had put something that big on the roof. She's not a fan of antennas on the house. I believe it has something to do with estrogen.

 

[rafale01010]

I am going to end up getting the Scantenna because of the low price. I might reinforce it as a precaution. It can get windy around here but not that often. And only once or twice have we had an ice storm. Where i live, we are on the highest point in the county so therefore if we gotta worry about a flood, then everybody is pretty much screwed. If i were to run a long line from my old garage to my room in the house, what kind of cable would i need and would an amplifier help it out some?

 

[hoser147]

You will get 50ft of RG 6 with the Scantenna along with a F to Bnc adapter. Try it with out worrying about an amp. If you need a longer cable you can get them at Walmart RG6 for a decent price, Under 20 bucks for 100 ft. Hoser

 

[thewenk]

What range does the Omni X get before i put money on it?and how reliable?

As has been said before that depends. I have been into scanning for over 30 years and lived in several different places and every place and condition is different. If you have a GRE you can probably receive vhf-hi further than a Uniden, but it might overload on very close vhf-hi signals. If your transmitter is on a mountain several thousand feet higher than your elevation your results will be better than if the transmitter is on a building several hundred feet above your elevation.

My Omni-X is mounted about 20 ft above the ground and and I use an FM trap to cut down on interference. I use RG11 and some RG6 for cable. My environment is small city with minimal rf interference.

With the Omni-X:
I can receive vhf-hi consistently up to about 60 miles from mountaintop transmitters.
I can receive UHF(450-460) consistently up to about 50 miles from mountain transmitters.
I can consistently receive 700 MHz digital & 800 MHz analog trunked signals up to about 30 miles from mountain repeater.
I can not receive a 700 MHz digital transmitter on a building(100 ft tower) approximately 25 miles away at approximately my same elevation. Part of my problem here is large trees in my line of sight. However, I can receive it using a yagi.

On some days reception is better than other days. I can make distant reception consistently better by using a preamp, but I get some overloading of close transmitters which is usually solved by using the scanner channel attenuation option.

So, this is the basis for why I say the Omni-X is a good antenna. You can judge for yourself if it would work for your application.

Dave