HF traffic? Really? Maybe 10 meters on up, at the most. What traffic are you referring to? A simple wire about 10 feet long attached to a radio will get you HF traffic.
New Antenna Coming Soon based on Old Favorite.
- Thread starter digitalanalog
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I need to get schooled on "digital traffic". JUST KIDDING!
Even a VHF/UHF Discone can give very usable reception on HF with a very low noise floor. Don't knock it until you've tried it.
Welp, he is continuing to promote it (even priced it) before testing, so the discussion continues...
Have you tried it on 900-960MHz? I've been thinking about getting a wide band antenna for a while, this is an area that would be important to me. I'm eagerly waiting the results of this new antenna, the Omni X had been on my mind as well.
I have a much better signal and a far better decode, Things just sound better especially on my SDS100 and 200 with the omni X. My ST2 in its defense is old as hell and beat up but still out there doing its thing. I will most likely get one of these newer versions once I see some data and read a few reviews though, Can never have enough antennas =)
It really is a great Antenna, like I said prolly the best wide band Antenna I have owned and super durable. Built like a tank
I use the Omni X antenna at about 30 ft paired with my SDS 200 and it does a fantastic job on all public service bands. The 1200 ft. Above sea level mountain that it sits on doesn’t hurt either !!!
1,200ft is a hill, not a mountain. I live on the (lower) side of an 1,100ft hill surrounded by 5,000ft mountains.
digitalanalog
Active Member
"The Searcher I" antenna is a Receive ONLY antenna and is NOT designed for transmitting.
We are not responsible for any damage to any of your electronic devices if you choose to
use this antenna to transmit with. Transmitting with this antenna may cause irreparable damage
to your radio and or radio equipment. DO NOT TRANSMIT WITH THIS ANTENNA
We are not responsible for any damage to any of your electronic devices if you choose to
use this antenna to transmit with. Transmitting with this antenna may cause irreparable damage
to your radio and or radio equipment. DO NOT TRANSMIT WITH THIS ANTENNA
How low does that discone give reliable reception? How does that compare to the ST2, for the same freqs?
That would depend on the transmitter location, antenna and output power, in relation the receiver.
I have used a discone and ST2 to RX HF signals when they have been quite strong, just to compare against the HF antenna. Do they work as well as purpose built HF antenna, absolutely not. Can it lower the noise floor and provide usable reception depending on conditions, definitely. I recommend people try it if they have the gear and listen to the difference. You may find that it sounds better, or not at times.
I have never compared the ST2 side by side with discone to test HF frequencies and how low I could receive reliably.
I have used a discone and ST2 to RX HF signals when they have been quite strong, just to compare against the HF antenna. Do they work as well as purpose built HF antenna, absolutely not. Can it lower the noise floor and provide usable reception depending on conditions, definitely. I recommend people try it if they have the gear and listen to the difference. You may find that it sounds better, or not at times.
I have never compared the ST2 side by side with discone to test HF frequencies and how low I could receive reliably.
I've never compared an ST-2 to a Discone for HF reception but the Discone was surprisingly ok. Since I have lots of HF antennas I would not reach for the Discone for HF reception but its nice to know you can receive some things if all else fails.
digitalanalog
Active Member
Having read everything thus far, the prime purpose of the testing is to compare the reception capabilities of the antenna constructed by digitalanalog (the Skyward), based on the ST2 Scantenna, to the ST2 itself. Again, this is a “comparison” test and has nothing to do with gain.
The gain of an antenna to receive is a measure of its ability to convert electromagnetic waves to electrical power, usually referenced to a hypothetical lossless isotropic antenna, and expressed in dBi. If the reference is lossless half-wave dipole antenna, the gain is expressed in dBd. A lossless half-wave dipole has a gain of 2.15 dBi. Thus dBd = dBi + 2.15. The isotropic antenna has a gain on unity (1) by definition. A plot of gain vs azimuth gives the familiar antenna pattern with the highest gain assigned the”antenna gain”.
In our case we are comparing two nearly identical (theoretically) antennas. We will assume they are basically omni-directional from the design; no need for antenna pattern, simplifying testing. Under identical conditions if one antenna delivered twice the power to our measuring instrument its numerical gain is 2 (3dB). There is no subscript as this is relative gain.
The comparison against a Discone will be interesting. Here again the gain of the Discone is of no consequence. We are comparing antennas to each other. I’m afraid if some knew the absolute gains of any of these antennas they’d be disappointed. Some might even be negative at some (all?) frequencies.
The gain of an antenna to receive is a measure of its ability to convert electromagnetic waves to electrical power, usually referenced to a hypothetical lossless isotropic antenna, and expressed in dBi. If the reference is lossless half-wave dipole antenna, the gain is expressed in dBd. A lossless half-wave dipole has a gain of 2.15 dBi. Thus dBd = dBi + 2.15. The isotropic antenna has a gain on unity (1) by definition. A plot of gain vs azimuth gives the familiar antenna pattern with the highest gain assigned the”antenna gain”.
In our case we are comparing two nearly identical (theoretically) antennas. We will assume they are basically omni-directional from the design; no need for antenna pattern, simplifying testing. Under identical conditions if one antenna delivered twice the power to our measuring instrument its numerical gain is 2 (3dB). There is no subscript as this is relative gain.
The comparison against a Discone will be interesting. Here again the gain of the Discone is of no consequence. We are comparing antennas to each other. I’m afraid if some knew the absolute gains of any of these antennas they’d be disappointed. Some might even be negative at some (all?) frequencies.
I see you have the results ready, am eager to see how it did! What method was used? This is interesting
digitalanalog
Active Member
Just a suggestion...mount the antenna itself on a fiberglass or PVC short pole that is mounted to a mast....
Unless you run the coax at a 90deg angle away from the antenna for some distance the coax hanging down a fiberglass mast will do the same thing as mounting the antenna on a metal mast.
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