• To anyone looking to acquire commercial radio programming software:

    Please do not make requests for copies of radio programming software which is sold (or was sold) by the manufacturer for any monetary value. All requests will be deleted and a forum infraction issued. Making a request such as this is attempting to engage in software piracy and this forum cannot be involved or associated with this activity. The same goes for any private transaction via Private Message. Even if you attempt to engage in this activity in PM's we will still enforce the forum rules. Your PM's are not private and the administration has the right to read them if there's a hint to criminal activity.

    If you are having trouble legally obtaining software please state so. We do not want any hurt feelings when your vague post is mistaken for a free request. It is YOUR responsibility to properly word your request.

    To obtain Motorola software see the Sticky in the Motorola forum.

    The various other vendors often permit their dealers to sell the software online (i.e., Kenwood). Please use Google or some other search engine to find a dealer that sells the software. Typically each series or individual radio requires its own software package. Often the Kenwood software is less than $100 so don't be a cheapskate; just purchase it.

    For M/A Com/Harris/GE, etc: there are two software packages that program all current and past radios. One package is for conventional programming and the other for trunked programming. The trunked package is in upwards of $2,500. The conventional package is more reasonable though is still several hundred dollars. The benefit is you do not need multiple versions for each radio (unlike Motorola).

    This is a large and very visible forum. We cannot jeopardize the ability to provide the RadioReference services by allowing this activity to occur. Please respect this.

Need help in identifying antennas

Status
Not open for further replies.

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,545
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Well, lots of us do.
Trick is, finding someone local to you.

A radio shop will have one, but they won't do it free.
You can probably find an amateur radio operator that has one, they'll do it for free, or should.
There are low cost VNA (Vector network analyzers) on Amazon for the $50 range. But trick is you have to know how to use it and interpret the results. There are tutorials on line, youtube videos, etc.

But at these frequencies it's not critical.
If you were using these for public safety linking of systems, you'd want to know. But you are not.
For cellular use, the info we provided is close enough to work. At these frequencies they are pretty broad banded. Unlikely you'll notice a difference between the 800MHz cellular bands and the 700MHz cellular bands. Remember that most cell phones have crappy internal antennas, and the systems are designed for that. Most consumer products have a lot of slop built into them to absorb the stuff that consumers do.

In other words, go ahead and hook one up and see how it does with your booster. Try all three and see if one gives you better performance with the others. It's not going to break anything.
 

mkswmp

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2013
Messages
10
Location
briggs,tx
Well, lots of us do.
Trick is, finding someone local to you.

A radio shop will have one, but they won't do it free.
You can probably find an amateur radio operator that has one, they'll do it for free, or should.
There are low cost VNA (Vector network analyzers) on Amazon for the $50 range. But trick is you have to know how to use it and interpret the results. There are tutorials on line, youtube videos, etc.

But at these frequencies it's not critical.
If you were using these for public safety linking of systems, you'd want to know. But you are not.
For cellular use, the info we provided is close enough to work. At these frequencies they are pretty broad banded. Unlikely you'll notice a difference between the 800MHz cellular bands and the 700MHz cellular bands. Remember that most cell phones have crappy internal antennas, and the systems are designed for that. Most consumer products have a lot of slop built into them to absorb the stuff that consumers do.

In other words, go ahead and hook one up and see how it does with your booster. Try all three and see if one gives you better performance with the others. It's not going to break anything.
Thank you very much, that's the kind of info I was needing. One last question...I happen to have a parabolic grid that's about 2'x3' also. If I was to put it behind my yagi cell antenna would that have any positive results....or not worth the effort?
 

mmckenna

I ♥ Ø
Joined
Jul 27, 2005
Messages
23,545
Location
Hiding in a coffee shop.
Thank you very much, that's the kind of info I was needing. One last question...I happen to have a parabolic grid that's about 2'x3' also. If I was to put it behind my yagi cell antenna would that have any positive results....or not worth the effort?

Since it would be unlikely to actually focus the received signal right on the driven element, it's probably not going to do any good.

If you were building something from scratch and wanted to work out all the math, you could make an antenna out of it, but it's probably not worth it. The yagi antennas you have should work pretty well if there is a signal there for you to receive.
 

tvengr

Well Known Member
Joined
Feb 10, 2019
Messages
9,126
Location
Baltimore County, MD
it has four elements with one of them being a loop that the coax cable ties into.
The active element in a loop connected to the coax is known as a folded dipole. Shorter elements in front are directors and longer elements behind it are reflectors.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top