I just ordered a discone antenna from Amazon to get better reception on my Uniden SDS100. I can’t mount it outdoors, so I plan to just stand it up in my 2nd floor bonus room for now. It’s actually smaller than I thought it would be (5.5’ high x 2.5’ wide). Any suggestions to maximize performance? It’s a wood & stucco wall with a tile roof. I might locate it in the attic at some point, but then it would essentially be surrounded by tile, so I don’t know if that would hurt reception. Also, any point in getting an SWR meter? I’m not even sure what could be adjusted.
Discone in the attic
- Thread starter Jondrew55
- Start date
If the walls are authentic Stucco, then they have a metallic mesh underneath them that holds the Stucco to the wall. That metallic mesh reflects radio signals (look up "faraday cage"). This means that your antenna will likely be deaf to most signals that it would otherwise capture outside, or in a room that wasn't surrounded by Stucco walls. Sorry...
Also, unless you plan on transmitting with that antenna, then you don't need to worry about using an SWR meter. However, if you DO plan on transmitting with that antenna, and those are authentic Stucco walls, you probably won't be heard by anyone, and you might actually damage something (or someone) with all that reflected RF bouncing around up there, and possibly even bouncing around the rest of the house!
Also, unless you plan on transmitting with that antenna, then you don't need to worry about using an SWR meter. However, if you DO plan on transmitting with that antenna, and those are authentic Stucco walls, you probably won't be heard by anyone, and you might actually damage something (or someone) with all that reflected RF bouncing around up there, and possibly even bouncing around the rest of the house!
I actually missed that part about the tile roof. Yes! Put that antenna in the attic! The tiles might attenuate the signals somewhat, if at all, but your antenna will be one floor up, and higher is always better when it comes to antennas.
This is how happy accidents happen, you start out with a seemingly insurmountable problem, only to discover that what you thought would be a problem, actually isn't a problem at all!
One more thing, you might do extremely well to locate your scanner in the room you were going to put the antenna in. The most important reason for this is to minimize the coax run. if your radio is on the ground floor, running coax up two flights of stairs can actually cause your signal to degrade by the time it reaches your radio! So, keep them close, and you'll be rewarded.
Another reason to locate your scanner in that upstairs room is so you can make it your "official" radio room. Believe me, if you're like the rest of us, here, your gonna start collecting radios. They always find a way to follow you home, it's uncanny! So, it's a good idea to have a place to put them (hide them...?), and more than likely keep your significant other happy in the process.
Happy scanning!
lol, thanks. Yea, I should return the 125 I bought, but it's getting hard to put it in the box and return to Amazon. It's a much smaller package for taking to events. And then of course I just discovered proscan can control your scanner and do all sorts of other neat stuff so there goes another $50.
As far as the antenna goes, it comes with 30' of cable and that will be plenty close to the scanner upstairs. Getting it into the attic is gonna be a bit of a chore since the only access is right near the bottom of the roof and there is no way for even a skinny person to get thru there. I've been thinking of putting another access in my office anyway, so this will be an incentive to do that.
Figure out how to mount it outside.
Well, here you go, then. Another happy accident in the making! Though, I didn't see the inconvenient access to the attic being a thing. Have you tried the antenna in the upstairs bedroom surrounded by Stucco?
wtp
Member
shorten the cable run by putting it on the dining room table. i did it.
but that was after the kids were gone and the girlfriend had left.
so, just putting it out there !
but that was after the kids were gone and the girlfriend had left.
so, just putting it out there !
I've only got one kid left and she has no interest in messing with my stuff.
Not an option
wtp
Member
a step closer to the table idea...
May I ask what antenna you ordered? 6' seems large.
I ordered this one. The ones I looked at all appeared similar in size. 1.7 meters is hair over 5-1/2 feet
Ah, they're counting that center mast which is for really low freqs I think, I might be wrong. I had two Discones up for a while, and still have them.
Yes, the vertical on top is for VHF Lo. If you have no intention of listening there, it should unscrew and then it might fit on the table. I have a discone in the attic ATM, works pretty well for VHF Hi. It will be mounted outside when the weather is better this spring.
I too could be wrong, but this is a diamond d3000 and the whip part is not just for low vhf. Someone correct me, but while it may work ok without the whip, I do believe in this case it serves more than vhf low and may improve other frequencies. For the price, it better😉
sprman1955
Member
Had my discone in the attic for 4 years .Did ok took it out put it up outside and got better signals.Just put it up to 20 feet.Works much better outside.Discones have 0 gain , but do cover a wide freqs.WIKI discone to see much more..Angelo
I did a temporary install of my discone. It’s now about 12‘ off the ground with the top of the whip antenna about 2’ below the roofline. For all practical purposes I’ll never be able to get it much higher without becoming obvious to nosey HOA eyes. I’m going to leave it up for a few days to see if the performance is notably better than just having it on a tripod in my upstairs bonus room. I will say the aviation performance seems much better, but it was pretty good mounted in the bonus room too.
