Desktop discone

[licpl8man]

Does anybody on here have any experience with this:

Amazon.com: Taurus Desktop 25-2000 Mhz Scanner Antenna : Electronics

Buy Taurus Desktop 25-2000 Mhz Scanner Antenna: Radio Antennas - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

a.co

Do these work or is this hogwash? Reviews seem positive, but I’m not inclined to drop $90 is it’s just a gimmick

Thanks all!

 

[918Dave]

Sounds like it works based upon the reviews. I just might have to get one in the coming New Year

 

[mmckenna]

Does anybody on here have any experience with this:

No experience with that. but...

Reviews seem positive, but I’m not inclined to drop $90 is it’s just a gimmick

I wouldn't trust the reviews unless you knew what the individual writing the review was using as a comparison.
The lower part of the antenna design is a discone, but the measurements make it effective way up high, maybe 800MHz and up. Even then, discone antennas are -not- great antennas. Even if designed as a discone and using it on the frequencies it's actually resonate at, it's zero dB of gain.

The myriad of whips stuck on top appear to be randomly designed to be resonate at various frequencies to act as some sort of 1/4 wave antenna with a poor ground plane.

The claims of performance down to 25MHz are dubious. Yes, anything will act as an antenna, even a paperclip, but that antenna is in no way resonate anywhere below the VHF high band.

Give it a try if you feel like it, but don't expect miracles. Often any external antenna will be an improvement over the stock antennas, but I'd not expect much.
If you have specific bands you want to listen to, there are good antennas that can be had in that price range that will actually have some useable gain.

If you just like the looks of it, well, then it's probably the right antenna for you.

 

[murphcc1]

I've had mine a few years, works very well.
Actually I live in a townhouse and cant have anything outside really.
But I have this sitting on the railing out back and it works better for Milair than a dedicated miliar antenna.
Also use it for SWL sometimes and it work well with that.

 

[918Dave]

Mine arrives Jan 5th. I'll post my review soon after.

 

[D31245]

I use this GRA‑D220R Mini Discone with my RTL-SDR Blog V4. Performance is ok. Use it mostly for local Public Safety, Local Repeaters, Weather, FM Broadcast. Don't regret the purchase.

Amazon.com: GRA‑D220R Mini Discone Antenna | 100–1600 MHz Receiver, 144/430/904/1200 MHz Transmit, 29.5" Stainless Portable Scanner Whip : Electronics

Buy GRA‑D220R Mini Discone Antenna | 100–1600 MHz Receiver, 144/430/904/1200 MHz Transmit, 29.5" Stainless Portable Scanner Whip: Radio Antennas - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[bearcatrp]

I have the D220R. My 1st antenna used indoors on a floor lamp, just removed the top. Did this until I was able to put up an outdoor discone. Did pretty good for indoors. Would take it on camping trips. Brought a tripod and pcv tubing. Worked fair well. Not as good as a full size discone. If this is all you can do, better than nothing.

 

[Brales60]

I've seen a few reviews/discussions about this here and all have seemed positive. I'm all about antennas since I got into this stuff a few years ago.

 

[spongella]

At least you don't have to worry about high winds, ice storms, etc. Thanks for the heads up, I like that antenna.

 

[Ubbe]

It's not a discone, it is made in the style of a discone but are not operating as one. It is a GP antenna with multiple vertical elements that interfere with each others functions. You will get better reception using only one single element, removing the others, that are tuned to the frequency band you are monitoring or a normal GP or dipole made of electrical wires will work better. You connect several of those home made wire antennas in parallel to mimic this "discone" antenna. The bigger the antenna the more RF signals you will pick up that the antenna are exposed to.

/Ubbe

 

[ExploitedSanity]

Does anybody on here have any experience with this:

Amazon.com: Taurus Desktop 25-2000 Mhz Scanner Antenna : Electronics

Buy Taurus Desktop 25-2000 Mhz Scanner Antenna: Radio Antennas - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

a.co

Do these work or is this hogwash? Reviews seem positive, but I’m not inclined to drop $90 is it’s just a gimmick

Thanks all!

I purchased this same one back in October. So I can only give a brief review. I have mine sitting in the center of a bay window. It's very well built and sturdy. Picks up a little HF. Very impressed with ADS-B reception. I've been able to do most things on the "what you can do" list on the RTL-SDR site. I follow a couple trunking systems with SDR, no issues. So far, so good.

 

[918Dave]

My 'discone style' antenna arrived today. I found great reception on the SDS 200, 150 & Pro 2006. Can't wait for the AST Mini 4 to be tested when it arrives. This one is a keeper for sure.