Just Got A Wonderful Base Antenna

[dsalomon]

His reply was that it's "copper wire and coax, the rest is proprietary". He also said that the last guy who asked for details cloned it and started competing with him.

So...that says it all.

73 - David, AG4F

 

[jonwienke]

Agreed.

Snake oil.

 

[phask]

If any one wants to research him some more.

LOWBANDER'S WEB PAGE

 

[NC1]

I just asked "Lowbander" to post a picture of the antenna prior to insertion into the PVC tube. I said I wanted to see the construction before buying. I'll update with a pic if he actually does it. If he is unwilling to, that's a confirmation (at least to me) that it really is snake oil.

73 - David, AG4F

My guess is there are 3 elements cut to center on the three bands.
If in fact that is true, then there is the problem of them interacting with each other. Ideally, all 3 elements should be at least 1/2 wavelength away from the lowest band element.
The closer they are, the more interaction there will be - and these are within a few millimeters.
That being a given, I can guarantee with 100% assurance it is by far not an optimal antenna design.

It will be interesting to see the construction inside the tube.

 

[Nasby]

He's a really good salesman and is obviously successful at making a buck or two.

Gotta' give him credit for that.

It is kinda funny how he refers to himself in the third person as "Lowbander."

"No one's done more mods than Lowbander."

Like that Seinfeld episode, "Jimmy's gonna get you Kramer."

 

[SOFA_KING]

He's a really good salesman and is obviously successful at making a buck or two.

Gotta' give him credit for that.

It is kinda funny how he refers to himself in the third person as "Lowbander."

"No one's done more mods than Lowbander."

Like that Seinfeld episode, "Jimmy's gonna get you Kramer."

I loved that episode!

Funny show.

Phil

 

[SCPD]

Inside lowbander antenna

Have to admit after opening it I wish I had not, I make this things myself to but that is scary looking, a waste of coax really

 

[SOFA_KING]

That is a two-element fan dipole! Most likely VHF-Hi and 800...but may be UHF.

But was it end-fed, or center-fed?

If it was center-fed, it might have been OK if the elements were kept apart from one another. If it were end-fed, that would be detuned, as the coax shouldn't be near the counterpoise elements. And if it was end-fed and all the elements were crossing inside, that would be a total joke.

Good work. BUSTED!

Like I said earlier, a coat hanger would work as well. :roll:

Phil

 

[Ubbe]

This doesn't match the description at all:

" Each element is carefully tuned for maximum signal reception so the antenna performs like 4 separate mono band antennas. A ground plane element for each band is enclosed in the PVC tube and completes the antenna. Many scanner antennas sold on Ebay never mention the groundplane, because their antenna does NOT have a built in groundplane, which seriously affects the performance. The Super Scanner One has 4 separate groundplanes, one for each of the 4 separate antennas!!"

Is it really the same antenna as advertised on Ebay?

/Ubbe

 

[mmckenna]

Have to admit after opening it I wish I had not, I make this things myself to but that is scary looking, a waste of coax really

Is anyone truly surprised by this photo?

Looks like THHN wire and a mass of electrical tape. I'd like to know if he soldered it, used wire nuts, or just twisted the wires together and wrapped it in tape.

 

[SCPD]

Antenna pic

That was the lowbander antenna, what he did was cut electrical wire to tuned lengths, there were 4 different lengths inside the tube soldered to the coax, that was centered in the 3 foot pvc tube, the reason I cut it open was first I seen this thread awhile back, and people wanting to see the inside of that antenna, and second I damaged the coax, it didnot work on anything 100mhz and lower anything above 100mhz it worked ok on, for $30 bucks it’s a step up from stock if it’s outside, inside it did nothing but pick up noise.

 

[ur20v]

From the seller's ebay listing:

"The Super Scanner Two-XC is guaranteed to hear better than the telescoping rod antenna that comes with most base scanners!"

Wow. Such an incredibly lofty standard to outperform ������