Hf 2m & 6m / Vhf Antenna?

[gmacka]

I thought i would ask for some of youre knowledge & guidance here.
I have just invested in a new Icom 7400 HF transceiver.
I would like to erect an antenna on top of the roof and attach to existing roof mount water pipe.
My question is what would be my best option?
The transceiver has 2m & 6m /VHF bands and 3 antenna connections on back of unit.
At the moment i am just using comet discone antenna.
There are so many options i am a little confused to which way to go.
Would really appreciate some help here.

 

[stevolene]

this is a killer antenna, but a little pricey

http://www.gapantenna.com/challenger.html

 

[scannerpro]

That antenna rocks! I know a few guys have one. Pricy at first but great!

 

[zz0468]

There really is no one antenna that's going to do an super job from 80-2 meters. The lower bands (160 and 80, mainly) are bandwidth limited on verticals such as the one in the link. They can also be a pain to tune when you built it. On the upper bands, it's going to be an omni. Useful for local communications, but you're unlikely to set any records with it. It's also missing a couple of bands available to you.

I use an SGC autotuner and a balanced fed dipole for 160 - 10 meters. It gives me full coverage on all bands, and gets out quite well for just a dipole. For 6 and 2 meters, you need to consider what you're going to do. FM operation on both bands uses vertical polarization. Weak signal work on ssb and cw uses horizontal. There's about a 20 db penalty for cross polarization.

So, to use ALL of the radio's capabilities, you need both horizontal and vertical polarized antennas for 6 and 2. It matters less on hf because after the first hop, polarization becomes pretty random.

Decide what bands you want to work, and in the case of 6 and 2, what modes. Then you can decide what antennas are best for you.

 

[K9GTJ]

If your Icom radio supports it, the AH-4 antenna tunner is a great tuner. - http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamtune/3702.html - I really like it.

Get a beam for 6 and 2 meters and a keep using the Comet discone for local repeater work.

I like the Arrow 4 element for 6 meters. Solid construction and it can turn on a cheap TV rotator - http://www.arrowantennas.com/52-4s.html

Pick up a nice 10 element beam for 2 meters and you are all set - http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamants/1961.html