Broken discone question

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wmscanfan

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Much to my surprise, when I went on the roof my 10+ year old RS discone antenna was missing 3 1/2 radials, and probably has been for years...since I recently upgraded my scanner from a pro2006 to a bcd996xt I thought I'd also upgrade my antenna and cable as well.

I have 75' of LMR400 (to replace 50' of RG8 extended with 25' of rg58) and a new Diamond Discone on the way.

But the thing that puzzles me is that even with a clearly broken antenna, and substandard cable, I seem to pick up loads of signals from pretty far away - sometimes 40-50 miles on some frequencies. Including pretty decent 800Mhz coverage.

Of course, I have nothing to compare it to, but is there any possibility that a discone antenna, broken in the 'right' way, would inadvertently be improving the efficiency of receiving certain frequencies?
 

w2xq

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More likely a function of height and/or surrounding terrain? Just a WAG.
 

n5ims

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My RS discone still is doing the job with only 3 remaining radials (one long, two short). It's mostly a matter of signal strength, not any magic on the antenna. Quite often it really doesn't take much of an outside antenna to do the job unless you're dealing with some very weak signals to begin with.
 

Rt169Radio

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It is probably working so good due to how high the antenna is.
 

wmscanfan

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Think you are all right - since I don't understand anything about antenna construction, I had the thought that if certain 'arms' of the discone were broken off, it might change the receive characteristics in ways I didn't understand...but I guess not.

Anyway, yesterday my diamond discone arrived with 75' of times microwave 400 cable, so I replaced the old/broken/corroded antenna, gave it 6+ extra feet of height on my roof and also replaced a run of cable (which was actually 3 different cables strung together with multiple adapters).

My reception is definitely much,better. Picking up signals from NH, VT, NY and Connecticut that I couldn't pull in before, plus much greater local (western mass) reception. Worcester Mass, 53+ miles to my east comes in clear as a bell. Must have much to do with my location (decent elevation), and the new antenna and cable are making it even better. Whole new world of things to listen to...
 
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