Discone Antenna question

[carsonbm]

I have made up my mind to buy an omi direction antnena, but I do not know what the best model is, can someone help me? :?:

Thanks

Brent :evil:

 

[FPO703]

You can buy either the ICOM or Diamond discone antenna from Amateur Electronic Supply up in Wickliffe on Euclid Ave.

I think the ICOM one comes with a 50 foot piece of coax with it.

I have the ICOM one and it works great.

 

[Swipesy]

I have the Diamond D130J Discone and a dedicated Antennex 806-866MHZ antennas here in Russell Township. The Discone performs very well (can even pick up Cleveland Heights here) except on the 800 band. It picks up Geauga System very well but is absolutely deaf on the Lake, Summit and MARCS system. Then again I am in a very difficult reception area with large tree, house and valley. The Diamond will work well for you.

 

[carsonbm]

Anntenna

I bought the Diamond Dicone antenna for my BC796D scanner and it works great. Would this antenna work with a shortwave radio? :evil:

 

[K5MAR]

While keeping in mind that "any" antenna will receive signals, to a degree, remember that the bottom end of a discone's range is above the shortwave bands. The DJ-130 starts at 25 MHz, which is well above the majority of the shortwave bands. Only the 11 meter CB and 10 meter Amateur bands fall in this range. So don't expect great results.

Mark S.

 

[carsonbm]

Antenna

What antenna can be installed without taking up half of the back yard. I need all the help I can get. :evil:

 

[K5MAR]

That's a tough one! As a general rule with shortwave reception, the more wire you put up, the better you receive. When I worked on the drilling/production platforms in the North Sea, we just strung up as much wire as we could, worked pretty well as a general rule. This will work as long as you aren't planning on transmitting on the antenna.

Check the various amateur radio dealers (such as AES or HRO) or do a Google search for any of these terms: G5RV, sloper, beverage, random (long) wire, and inverted V antennas. I'm sure there are websites that have construction information on most of these, the trick is to pick a design that will fit your physical requirements. And try asking in the new HF Monitoring forum.

Radio Shack used to sell a book on antennas, called ANTENNAS - Selection, Installation and Projects, RSU 62-1083B. This book told how to construct antennas for HF, VHF and UHF. Don't know if it's still available, but if you can find a copy, grab it.

Mark S.

 

[N_Jay]

Re: Antenna

What antenna can be installed without taking up half of the back yard. I need all the help I can get. :evil:

The ARRL has about the best books on the topic.

 

[n4yek]

Also keep in mind, you don't need to hang heavy gauge wire.
18 gauge wire works great and isn't all that noticable if you
choose the right color.
You would only need about 66 feet of wire (half-wave antenna at 7.1 mhz)
to hang and center feed it with BELDEN RG174 SUBMNI COAX.
You can get 100 feet of the coax for around $30.
(this coax is only about 1/8 inch in diameter so not very noticable)
This works great for the 7.1 mhz range of the broadcast bands
from overseas.
Hope this helps a little...
Danny
N4YEK

 

[K5MAR]

Re: Antenna

What antenna can be installed without taking up half of the back yard. I need all the help I can get. :evil:

The ARRL has about the best books on the topic.

I considered referring him to the ARRL Antenna book, but at $30 plus shipping (and it's a big, heavy book!), I thought it was a bit much for a beginner. The RS book was just right for the novice, and actually has some nice antenna designs. Perhaps some store would have a copy still on the shelf.

The book is copyright 1994 by:
Master Publishing, Inc
14 Cayon Creek Village MS 31
Richardson, TX 75080

(214) 907-8938

Perhaps on of the Texans on here could see if they are still in business.

Mark S.

 

[Spleen]

I guess I'll pile this on to the first question: is there an omnidirectional out there that lets you sacrifice range for better reception, say, like, you don't really wanna use it much above 400MHz?

 

[N_Jay]

I guess I'll pile this on to the first question: is there an omnidirectional out there that lets you sacrifice range for better reception, say, like, you don't really wanna use it much above 400MHz?

Whatbands specifically do you want.
You might be best off with one or two single band antennas.

 

[Spleen]

You may have seen me discussing this in another forum, but basically I just don't want to replace my dying discone with another one, because my cable run (unchangeable) is too long to hear much above 400 MHz, so a 25-1200 discone would seem to be a waste of $$$. Below that, it works great...the discone even pulls in HF rather well, but I can probably seperate that out to a different antenna if I get motivated and replace the current discone with something designed for sub-400MHz but still omnidirectional. Lower range limit is quite negotiable. I just didn't know if such an animal existed or if I'd have to take your suggestion and make it a two-wire or shared setup...

 

[N_Jay]

You may have seen me discussing this in another forum, but basically I just don't want to replace my dying discone with another one, because my cable run (unchangeable) is too long to hear much above 400 MHz, so a 25-1200 discone would seem to be a waste of $$$. Below that, it works great...the discone even pulls in HF rather well, but I can probably seperate that out to a different antenna if I get motivated and replace the current discone with something designed for sub-400MHz but still omnidirectional. Lower range limit is quite negotiable. I just didn't know if such an animal existed or if I'd have to take your suggestion and make it a two-wire or shared setup...

A bigger Discone shifts the frequency band down.

There are few good wideband antenna designs out there.

 

[OutPost]

:shock: I bought a Centerfire Discone 25 to 1200 mhz reception and MURS transmission antenna; mainly to use for reception in the 460 mhz range on my BC350A, and placed it at the top of a 25' pole. At the 15' level, I have an old Radio Shack Ground Plane for my Regency MX5000 and discovered the Radio Shack G/P antenna works better at the 460 mhz range, but also discovered the Centerfire Discone Antenna with the MX5000 pulls in aircraft communications (118.0 to 135.00 mhz) better than the Radio Shack antenna. (not because of height...they were swapped around and tested on same frequencies).

Here's the question?? I might buy a different scanner for the 800 to 1200 mhz range. Will this Centerfire Discone do a job better than other types? Unless I am doing something wrong, I would not recommend this Discone for broad range receiving only if you live in the sticks with hills, but for the aviation band....works great ! I'm using RG8x-95 coaxial.

Thanks,
Dave
West Tennessee