Nil-Jon Base Experience

[suttles1972]

Hi all.
I am pondering a new base antenna for my scanners. I am in search of an all band antenna that does extremely well on 800. I've tried the Scantenna Dipole, in which was a great antenna. It brought in signals from a great distance and was extremely reliable in it's performance. But with great distance and performance, came a large amount pager intermod. After a 6 month trial of that, I chose to sell the Dipole and go with the Scanner Beam 2. This was a great mistake. I read many of the reviews on the Scanner Beam and all were positive. But for me, the Scanner Beam hasn't lived up to it's name. So now I'm back to square 1 and is wanting to try out something new and permanent. That's why I'm curious about the NilJon. If there are any NilJon users out there that can tell me about it's performance or whether the NilJon is another hype, please respond. I want to return capturing the distance signals like the Dipole. But this time I'll try something different, in place of the Dipole. Even if it also capture the pager intermod.
You all may knowing the saying. "Sometimes you have to spring back to leap forward". That's my take on my base antenna situation. I just didn't know what I had when I decided to sell the Dipole. Boy was I stupid. But before I divert back to a Dipole, I like to learn more about the NilJon.
Thanks in advance for all replies and comments. :wink:

 

[K5MAR]

Can't help on the Nil-Jon, but regarding the pager interference, have you looked at the PAR filters? They do an excellent job of filtering out pager freqs. Here's the link to the PAR website:
http://parelectronics.com/scanner.htm

Dale can also do custom filters - frequency or connectors to fit your needs. I've been a satisfied user for years, they are well worth the money.

Mark S.

 

[OHIOSCAN]

I have the Niljon Omni-W base and Super-M mobile, both are excellent
VHF\UHF antennas. The Super-M is the by far the best VHF\UHF
antenna I have owned but on 800Mhz I would rate it only as good.
I am guessing the base unit of the Super-M performs pretty close
to the mobile so take that into account. I can pickup everything 800
on the Super-M as my other setups but a quality dedicated 800Mhz
might snag weaker distant sigs if your only targeting 800. If you
monitor Vhf\Uhf\800 the Niljon will not disapoint, but if 800 is your
main interest you may want to look at other setups. One plus for
the Niljon is what it does pickup in 800 is a solid sig.

Mike

 

[JGP]

I just bought a Niljon Super-M VHF/UHF base antenna to replace my Scantenna antenna. It will be on twenty feet of tower.

I also got 50 feet of Belden 9354 (RG8/U with the factory installed PL-259 connectors.) I think this is the same as Beldon 9913.

I can't wait to put it up to see how it does, but it is too cold now to do it with all the snow on the ground.

The Scantenna is advirtized as being omnidirectional, but it is more like a beam antenna. You do have to aim it to get the best signal . I have TRS's north, south , and west of me. So I have to pick what systems will come in the best.

This is the reason for the change of antennas I hope it works out.

Joel in Wisconsin

 

[suttles1972]

I received my NilJon Base Antenna today. And I must say that this antenna is one of the best reception antennas I've ever used. I've never had a antenna that truly expand from VHF-Lo to 800 and all provide strong levels on the S-meter. I'm even picking up VHF-Hi transmissions that are 50 miles away, and were known to be impossible to hear in my listening area. And even though I'm extremely pleased with it's performance, the real test will be radio traffic, also 50 miles away from my listening area. The difference is that the frequencies will be UHF, instead of VHF-Hi. I haven't had any luck with this quest in previous antenna setups. But I never had an antenna that receives traffic, 50 miles away either. So I am very optimistic about this test.
Thanks again for all the reviews and comments, prior to purchase. I will provide my test results in 2 days.

 

[fosters]

I have the same one for about 6 months. Like the range, but I think the 800 is going to be a problem if you are located on the "outskirts" of the reception area. I'm on the very, very fringe, and can't quite get it. Seems like it is all or nothing. As for everything else, works great. Range, and clarity are good, and it is really steathy.

Dan

 

[suttles1972]

I received my NilJon Base Antenna today. And I must say that this antenna is one of the best reception antennas I've ever used. I've never had a antenna that truly expand from VHF-Lo to 800 and all provide strong levels on the S-meter. I'm even picking up VHF-Hi transmissions that are 50 miles away, and were known to be impossible to hear in my listening area. And even though I'm extremely pleased with it's performance, the real test will be radio traffic, also 50 miles away from my listening area. The difference is that the frequencies will be UHF, instead of VHF-Hi. I haven't had any luck with this quest in previous antenna setups. But I never had an antenna that receives traffic, 50 miles away either. So I am very optimistic about this test.
Thanks again for all the reviews and comments, prior to purchase. I will provide my test results in 2 days.

Well it's been more than two days and I haven't heard any UHF transmissions yet. I assume that this is one of the grey areas for the antennas reception range. Everything else is superb. Fosters, try a amplifier and see if this will make a difference on you 800 reception. also consider using LMR400 or Belden 9913. This low loss cable can bring miracles to scanners. With amps and low loss cabling, 800 should be easy to capture.

 

[fosters]

Suttles,
Definitely will upgrade the coax this spring. Time to replace the old stuff anyways, though it is only a couple years old and still in good conditon. Probably do the 400 or maybe even the 600. I will put up a different mast in the spring, get it alittle higher, so have to figure how much cable i'll need for that.
What kind of amp.? Any suggestions? Heard good and bad about adding one of them, may hurt the scanner?

Fosters

 

[suttles1972]

Suttles,
Definitely will upgrade the coax this spring. Time to replace the old stuff anyways, though it is only a couple years old and still in good conditon. Probably do the 400 or maybe even the 600. I will put up a different mast in the spring, get it alittle higher, so have to figure how much cable i'll need for that.
What kind of amp.? Any suggestions? Heard good and bad about adding one of them, may hurt the scanner?

Fosters

A low noise cable amp would be suffice. I would also put in a inline adjustable antennuator. That way, you can control the signal noise, you may or may not be subject to.