Has anybody used these for monitoring? What are the pros and cons? Looking at purchasing a UHF, quite pricy but if it works better than an all band discone it will be worth it.
Thanks
Thanks
Laird base antennas (single band)
- Thread starter Asmitty0010
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mmckenna
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If all you need is UHF, then it's a good choice.
A discone has 0dB gain, so by the time you add in feed line loss, you are going to need a fairly strong signal to make everything work.
Using a band specific antenna with gain and good coax will easily outperform a discone when working with weaker signals. It isn't hard to get a UHF antenna with gain, it can still be physically short and work well.
I've used a few Laird base antennas with good results. Properly installed it should last quite a long time.
What is the specific model you are looking at?
A discone has 0dB gain, so by the time you add in feed line loss, you are going to need a fairly strong signal to make everything work.
Using a band specific antenna with gain and good coax will easily outperform a discone when working with weaker signals. It isn't hard to get a UHF antenna with gain, it can still be physically short and work well.
I've used a few Laird base antennas with good results. Properly installed it should last quite a long time.
What is the specific model you are looking at?
thanks for the info!!
the one i'm looking at is either the FG4500 or FG4503
the one i'm looking at is either the FG4500 or FG4503
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
OK, I've used similar antennas on 800MHz.
Pretty good antennas for the price,
The FG4500 is zero gain, so you'd be getting roughly the same performance as the discone.
The FG4503 is 3dB gain, so it would get more signal down the coax to your radio.
If you can, you might want a higher gain antenna.
I'd also look at the FG4505 and the FG4507. Unless you have space/heigh constraints the prices are a bit higher, but not much. The higher gain will give you better reception, stronger signal to your radio, and might allow you to hear traffic you might not hear with the lower gain antennas. Usually higher gain antennas have a different radiation pattern on the transmit side, and this is something to consider if you were transmitting with it. But for a receive only application, the higher gain might be a benefit.
Pretty good antennas for the price,
The FG4500 is zero gain, so you'd be getting roughly the same performance as the discone.
The FG4503 is 3dB gain, so it would get more signal down the coax to your radio.
If you can, you might want a higher gain antenna.
I'd also look at the FG4505 and the FG4507. Unless you have space/heigh constraints the prices are a bit higher, but not much. The higher gain will give you better reception, stronger signal to your radio, and might allow you to hear traffic you might not hear with the lower gain antennas. Usually higher gain antennas have a different radiation pattern on the transmit side, and this is something to consider if you were transmitting with it. But for a receive only application, the higher gain might be a benefit.
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