Best MilAir capable antenna/cable paired with the BCT15X? This will be an attic installation.
Thanks.
Thanks.
MilAir Antenna
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True military antennas can be quite pricey. DPD Productions offers civilian versions for various military bands at reasonable prices. Check them out...
DPD Productions - Military Base & Mobile Antennas: VHF, UHF, Air, Ground, Voice, Data
DPD Productions - Military Base & Mobile Antennas: VHF, UHF, Air, Ground, Voice, Data
Thanks for the pointer.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
If you have some building skills and have some parts lying around, this is worth trying...
Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki
If you have the parts, you could do this without much cash outlay...Mike
Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki
If you have the parts, you could do this without much cash outlay...Mike
prcguy
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All the typical scanner Discones really shine in the 100 to 400MHz civil and mil air range with consistent performance.
prcguy
prcguy
milcom_chaser
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VHF/UHF Air Traffic Control Military MULDIPOL
An RA miller AT 197-GR (Discone) work beautifully if you can find one. We found one used at a swap meet for $100. Not kidding.
An RA miller AT 197-GR (Discone) work beautifully if you can find one. We found one used at a swap meet for $100. Not kidding.
Yeah, they only come available (for an instant) once in a blue moon!
prcguy
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I've had a number of AT-197s and they work a little better than a Diamond DJ130 type scanner Discone because the dimensions are optimized for the 225-400 range. Otherwise I've paid anywhere from $15 to maybe $45 for an AT-197.
If you can find one of the broad band airport vertical dipoles made by DB Products or Antenna Products they also work slightly better than a Discone. These show up on Ebay occasionally and I might still have one buried in my garage somewhere. I also have a dual band Antenna Products 118-136 and 225-400MHz (DPV-39) stacked in a single fiberglass tube about 8ft long. I should put that one up for sale since I haven't used it in years.
I have what I think is the very best mil air antenna made by Chu & Associates. Its an 11ft long 4-bay colinear with about 5+ dBd of omni gain. Hard to find and expensive when you do.
prcguy
If you can find one of the broad band airport vertical dipoles made by DB Products or Antenna Products they also work slightly better than a Discone. These show up on Ebay occasionally and I might still have one buried in my garage somewhere. I also have a dual band Antenna Products 118-136 and 225-400MHz (DPV-39) stacked in a single fiberglass tube about 8ft long. I should put that one up for sale since I haven't used it in years.
I have what I think is the very best mil air antenna made by Chu & Associates. Its an 11ft long 4-bay colinear with about 5+ dBd of omni gain. Hard to find and expensive when you do.
prcguy
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Well, if you ever get to selling the DPV-39, let me know!
prcguy
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what discone would you recommend?.. my ST2 took a beating the last snow storm..need to replace it this spring ... for 150-170mhz and 224-400mhz...
nyair1
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I have a radio shack ST-4. Put it up about 8 years ago when i moved. Figured i would get a new one to replace the one i had that was probably 20 yrs old. I have about 225-250 air mile range on milair stuff i listen to.
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prcguy
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I think any of the quality scanner types with at least 6 disc and cone radials would be fine and work about the same. The more radials the better. I would go with an N connector and take off any base loaded whips on top.
For the OP and mil air reception, besides the AT-197 Discone there is a common ground plane looking antenna used mostly by the Navy called an AT-390. These come up surplus occasionally and work very well in the 225-400MHz band. Here is a link to a picture: RAMI | AS-390A/SRC
prcguy
For the OP and mil air reception, besides the AT-197 Discone there is a common ground plane looking antenna used mostly by the Navy called an AT-390. These come up surplus occasionally and work very well in the 225-400MHz band. Here is a link to a picture: RAMI | AS-390A/SRC
prcguy
Military AT-197/GR UHF Discone Antenna Aircraft
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Military-A...393147?hash=item4d702bb03b:g:rVwAAOSwLe5asq8R
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ok thanks... I was going to go with a tram D130NJ Super Discone Antenna..still in the hunt for a discone for 118-400mhz... i don't do much scanning over 400mhz
Ubbe
Member
You get the frequency range above 400MHz free of charge. A discone usually span over a 7x-8x range, even up to 10x from the finest ones, from its lowest frequency. You can look at the lower elements 1/4 lenght to get its lowest frequency and it will at least go up to seven times that frequency without a problem.
/Ubbe
/Ubbe
prcguy
Member
Even though a Discone covers about an 8:1 frequency range with a good match, its radiation pattern starts goes upward about half way through its range. That will loose a lot of signal at the horizon starting around 500MHz on the typical scanner type Discone.
I've been playing with a tiny 400-3200MHz Discone for 800-900Mhz stuff and recently swapped it with an MP Antenna Super M Ultra Base, which is a modified larger Discone. My 800-900 reception dropped by about 10dB with this larger Discone, even though its rated for 25MHz to 6GHz. What a bunch of crap advertising. At least I got it real cheap.
Next week I'll try swapping that with a more common Radio Shack Discone to see how far down that one is in the 800-900 range from the 400-3200MHz version.
prcguy
I've been playing with a tiny 400-3200MHz Discone for 800-900Mhz stuff and recently swapped it with an MP Antenna Super M Ultra Base, which is a modified larger Discone. My 800-900 reception dropped by about 10dB with this larger Discone, even though its rated for 25MHz to 6GHz. What a bunch of crap advertising. At least I got it real cheap.
Next week I'll try swapping that with a more common Radio Shack Discone to see how far down that one is in the 800-900 range from the 400-3200MHz version.
prcguy
This guy measured the Radio shack discone hope this helps? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2jmgUE7pH0
prcguy
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