DIAMOND RH77CA question

[ShawnCowden]

is there a way to mount a handheld antenna sma to the outside of a house as a base mount ? if so what would be the best way to do it ?
direct me in a direction folks I perfer it to be mounted either to a pole (mast) or the top of the house shingle house here.
use this setup for a backup for the st-2 scantenna

 

[blueangel-eric]

is there a way to mount a handheld antenna sma to the outside of a house as a base mount ? if so what would be the best way to do it ?
direct me in a direction folks I perfer it to be mounted either to a pole (mast) or the top of the house shingle house here.
use this setup for a backup for the st-2 scantenna

i wouldn't do it because the UV rays would deteriorate the antenna. why not just get another base antenna or build a simple one?

Eric Burris

 

[ShawnCowden]

hmmmm ok even if i put it in the shade ?

 

[hoser147]

Shawn, this is what I did and it works well for me. I wanted to get further range with an omni 800 antenna so I temporarily mounted a RS 800 antenna outside and up about 16 ft this winter to give it a try. I used good coax and mounted it in a piece of PVC with caps on the ends, it extended my range for monitoring the Ohio MARCs system. For 3.99 radio shack has a BNC double female snap in connector Model: 278-2051 | Catalog #: 278-2051 . I already had the extra RS 800 antenna layin around so total project cost was under 10 bucks. the BNC above and some cheap PVC fittings and a small straight piece of PVC all available at your local hardware. I even prefer to use it over my Yagi. Never tried it with my Diamond but I'm sure it would work just as well........Good Scannin Hoser

 

[ReCall]

That's nice work hoser ! ,
I play a lot with rubber ducky's, of all types, just for the fun of it, small , put them anywhere and it's for scanning right? Who said the duck has to be on the scanner.

I have the RH77CA antenna and 2 others on remote stands, but all of my remotes are made with the BNC chassis mounts and a 6" jumper to the main coax , 2 have ground planes , one is for the 800 RS rubber duck that sets up on top of my wife's tall brass lamp stand next to the window, 14ft from the scanner using LMR-200, the brass wire's for the shade are the ground plane, I get 5 bars with it on the GRE-300.

The RH77CA is on what I call the duck tester, an 8 legged ground plane for the 800 and 450mhz and that thing works great, about 18ft away using LMR-240.

You may find that after you make it up you will not need to put it outside, I work MilAir with the RH77CA and the other ground base, it's hanging from the ceiling.

Hey I'm a Attic Farmer and most of my big antenna's are up there, so I need something small to play with, so have fun! we are just scanning.

ReCall

 

[hoser147]

That's nice work hoser ! ,
I play a lot with rubber ducky's, of all types, just for the fun of it, small , put them anywhere and it's for scanning right? Who said the duck has to be on the scanner.

I have the RH77CA antenna and 2 others on remote stands, but all of my remotes are made with the BNC chassis mounts and a 6" jumper to the main coax , 2 have ground planes , one is for the 800 RS rubber duck that sets up on top of my wife's tall brass lamp stand next to the window, 14ft from the scanner using LMR-200, the brass wire's for the shade are the ground plane, I get 5 bars with it on the GRE-300.

The RH77CA is on what I call the duck tester, an 8 legged ground plane for the 800 and 450mhz and that thing works great, about 18ft away using LMR-240.

You may find that after you make it up you will not need to put it outside, I work MilAir with the RH77CA and the other ground base, it's hanging from the ceiling.

Hey I'm a Attic Farmer and most of my big antenna's are up there, so I need something small to play with, so have fun! we are just scanning.

ReCall

Thanks Recall, yes I use it on my GRE 600 and I have it affixed to a ground plane right now I have it up about 16ft, and am going to move it up to my main mast at about 35ft yet this summer. When I move it Im going to give the Antenex 3 db gain ducky a try. I picked up several towers monitoring the Ohio MARCs system over having it in the house. Actually I done it on a Brain fart when the snow was flyn last winter when I got my 600 and didnt care for the reception I was getting and I had a spare piece of 9913 layn around with bnc's on it. My son and I had a run of conduit in the garage and mounted it to a Porch swing on the deck. I see no reason it wouldnt work for a portable radio also. When I first tried it I considered the UV rays as Eric mentioned so thats how I came up with using the odd BNC double female and the PVC cover. Good Scannin Hser

 

[PHOENIX_SCANNER]

For decent affordable outdoor antenna monitoring, it is hard to beat the old RS 20-176.

Great on VHF, good on UHF, and fairly decent on 800 (it has two 800 mhz elements - everyone always forgets they are there though).

 

[blueangel-eric]

Shawn, this is what I did and it works well for me. I wanted to get further range with an omni 800 antenna so I temporarily mounted a RS 800 antenna outside and up about 16 ft this winter to give it a try. I used good coax and mounted it in a piece of PVC with caps on the ends, it extended my range for monitoring the Ohio MARCs system. For 3.99 radio shack has a BNC double female snap in connector Model: 278-2051 | Catalog #: 278-2051 . I already had the extra RS 800 antenna layin around so total project cost was under 10 bucks. the BNC above and some cheap PVC fittings and a small straight piece of PVC all available at your local hardware. I even prefer to use it over my Yagi. Never tried it with my Diamond but I'm sure it would work just as well........Good Scannin Hoser

wow good idea!!! i'll add on to it. to get a good ground plane take some aluminum tape and tape it from the connector down over the coax to make it a slim jim type antenna. i guess the tape should be the length of the antenna. that's a neat way to make a fiberglass looking antenna!!!! we should try that and post to a wiki page. i got the stuff to do it to. except then i can't use my diamond the regular way unless i buy another. i want a SMA version too. so i would need 3. one for the project, one for the BNC-SMA adapter for fast use, and one SMA version when i'm not changing antennas often.


update:

My findings are: the RH77CA doesn't work well as a base antenna when used as a base antenna. even with the aluminum tape idea. Compared to my homemade broadbanded dipole for 2m. nothing compares to my dipole in performance, though i can't test my big antennas like the ST-2 as i'm in an apartment. I thought dipoles don't have gain but everything i compared it to don't match for scanning performance in gain. but i did find a identical match more or less. it's my refurbished TMM3 mini mag mount antenna. i put RG58 coax on it after cleaning up the rust. it blows the diamond away and my longer 2m/70cm dual band mag mobile from MFJ!!!! of course last i check the SWR on the TMM3 is lowest for 163mhz instead of 2m on VHF. BTW i'm using the WX to check so UHF is assumed better. I know in the car the TMM3 blows away my 1/4 2m nmo antenna now, on UHF, that it's fixed. My suggestion is to buy a real base antenna or make a dipole like mine. i think its time i make a wiki page for my antenna as it's proven itself to me over and over again!!!! That same dipole antenna when to the park last night where i used my 5 watt radio to make contacts on a Lawrence KS 2m repeater about 70 miles from Emporia!!!! That was a blast last night for a whole hour!!!! btw that battery on the FT60R goes a long way as the batt light was on the whole time i talked and never went dead on me.


Eric Burris kc0ldt

 

[hoser147]

wow good idea!!! i'll add on to it. to get a good ground plane take some aluminum tape and tape it from the connector down over the coax to make it a slim jim type antenna. i guess the tape should be the length of the antenna. that's a neat way to make a fiberglass looking antenna!!!! we should try that and post to a wiki page. i got the stuff to do it to. except then i can't use my diamond the regular way unless i buy another. i want a SMA version too. so i would need 3. one for the project, one for the BNC-SMA adapter for fast use, and one SMA version when i'm not changing antennas often.

Eric Burris kc0ldt

Give it a try and let us know Eric, theres always room for improvement.............Hoser

 

[blueangel-eric]

bump, see update above.

 

[hoser147]

That saves me from having to try the diamond like that, Ill just use it with the RS 800. Thanks for the update............Hoser

 

[blueangel-eric]

well i compared my TMM3 to the RH77CA and moving the antennas back in forth in the same exact spot i am saying the RH77CA beats the poor little mobile antenna out of the water on UHF. I was getting a signal strength of an S-3 with the TMM3 and with the RH77CA i got an S-5 on the same Chase county SO repeater. So we're talking a few decibels in gain.

Eric Burris kc0ldt