Recommended cable for a 100' run on SDS 100

[Jondrew55]

Many, many years ago I obtained an EE degree so I understand signal loss, dBs, connector losses etc at a basic level. But I also know running the calculations is not the whole answer. Product quality is another factor.

I have an SDS 100 and bought a Diamond D3000N discone antenna which is now sitting in my upstairs bonus room. It has definitely improved the reach of my scanner, but putting it up on my roof would most likely improve it further. But there's that HOA thing I have to deal with. However, if I put the antenna just at the roofline at the rear of my house, I may be able to sneak it in under the "out of sight" escape clause. But in order to do that, I'm estimating I'll need about a 100' run of cable. I listen to pretty much the full band on the SDS 100, so I want the minimal loss for all of them. I've seen the cable loss calculators so I have an idea what I'm up against. There seems little point in going thru this exercise if I end up with the same basic reception from the roof I'm already getting from my 2nd floor interior room.
I'm looking for recommendations for high quality cable. I can solder, so I can put my own connectors on, but I'd be fine buying something with the N connectors already attached. I see this cable on Amazon for $95. Can someone recommend something better? Or am I just chasing a unicorn here?

https://www.amazon.com/KMR400-Extension-Connector-Coaxial-Antenna/dp/B09N6ST394/ref=sr_1_22_sspa?crid=2NFZFUKGRE7UM&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.QGo9cenKBSAT2cySwIv49GexYnW7W4SIQV4gwsimQvvEDUQRYdse0PREx_1mpcv-l2VYambnL5U3pNNgdwFWHtaOw_QeBJpK64hXyHeGA391mC-gXC3uPlYLtZX2EjWQzoKGUF_ivaOl3ZhgpuX1bgEUZcq78GJfY5QD4Wl1y9AmOyP92Y6x07bSzpSH1lF1qaqE52ifD6q5GhrfDU5L4Zahw9jLpSHeNa8zzcXXMxw.dAWUklmAEXHO5Va-sOAntGU0e1qwgdubcGvD_vKNzAA&dib_tag=se&keywords=ham%2Bradio%2Bantenna%2Bbooster&qid=1741262743&sprefix=ham%2Bradio%2Bantenna%2Bbo%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-22-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9idGY&th=1

 

[mc48]

RG8 Coax Cable / LMR 400 Coax Cable / 9913 Coax Cable - Cable By The Foot

Shop LMR-400, RG8 and 9913 coax cable by the foot at the Antenna Farm. We feature top brands including Times Microwave, Belden and Commscope.

theantennafarm.com

 

[buddrousa]

Do not buy AMAZON CHEAP CLONE 9913.
Go to a Radio Shop and buy true Belden 9913.
Before you spend about $2.00 a foot for quality cable what are your listening habits VHF 150, UHF 460, Trunking 700/800 and how far away are the sites you want to monitor?

 

[spanky15805]

Quad shield RG6.

 

[nokones]

Don't use that fake POS junk coaxial cable from Pandaland that is sold from a warehouse outlet that does not specialize in two-way radio electronics. Get quality stuff from a reputable two-way radio retailer and do it once and save time and money in the long run.

 

[popnokick]

The SDS 100 is a portable receiver. Take it outside and go up a ladder to where on the (edge?) of the roof you're planning to put the antenna. Compare the signals coming in to what you are now getting with the discone indoors on the 2nd floor. Listen for awhile and note the signal strengths of your "usuals" for monitoring. Are they better overall? If so then loss in a good cable may not be that impactful to the sigs you'll see at the SDS 100. Are they the same or worse? Then you may want to leave the discone right where it is now.

 

[AK9R]

Amazon shows the seller as XRDS-RF, but who are they? Is there a real company behind XRDS-RF? Or, are they just a reseller of inexpensive, low-quality products?

 

[Brales60]

I got my Times Microwave LMR 400 from Antenna farm. You can get any length your want with whatever connectors you want. Note, that you're going to need something smaller coming inside and hooking up the the SDS100. Pretty sure I used LMR 200.

 

[Jondrew55]

Do not buy AMAZON CHEAP CLONE 9913.
Go to a Radio Shop and buy true Belden 9913.
Before you spend about $2.00 a foot for quality cable what are your listening habits VHF 150, UHF 460, Trunking 700/800 and how far away are the sites you want to monitor?

Yes, those are the frequency ranges I'm listing to. How far am I from the sites? The low freq sites, which are the ones I'm having the most trouble hearing are anywhere from 3-8 miles away. Trunking sites seem to come in from quite a distance, as I assume I'm picking them up thru some sort of repeater (I'm new to this, so I'm learning. I only put that amazon link in there because I was was just looking for a starting point.

 

[prcguy]

Quad shield RG6.

Uhhh, no.

 

[richardbritt]

The SDS 100 is a portable receiver. Take it outside and go up a ladder to where on the (edge?) of the roof you're planning to put the antenna. Compare the signals coming in to what you are now getting with the discone indoors on the 2nd floor. Listen for awhile and note the signal strengths of your "usuals" for monitoring. Are they better overall? If so then loss in a good cable may not be that impactful to the sigs you'll see at the SDS 100. Are they the same or worse? Then you may want to leave the discone right where it is now.

That's a awesome idea. I have been a ham for 50 years, and I would have never thought of doing that. Cool beans

 

[K9KLC]

The SDS 100 is a portable receiver. Take it outside and go up a ladder to where on the (edge?) of the roof you're planning to put the antenna. Compare the signals coming in to what you are now getting with the discone indoors on the 2nd floor. Listen for awhile and note the signal strengths of your "usuals" for monitoring. Are they better overall? If so then loss in a good cable may not be that impactful to the sigs you'll see at the SDS 100. Are they the same or worse? Then you may want to leave the discone right where it is now.

We've done this for years deciding where to put various antennas for "this that and the other" from 2 meters to 1.2 gig antennas. Works GREAT! You'd be surprised what a few feet or even inches either way can make sometimes.

 

[prcguy]

The Diamond D3000 and similar Discones are not that great above about 500MHz and I've measured them to be almost 10dB down at the horizon at 800MHz. That plus a lot of cable loss is not going to be good if you do a lot of 800 stuff. Otherwise LMR400 has become the standard for most home scanner antenna installs and 100ft is not that bad at VHF, starting to get lossy at 450 and well over 3dB or 50% loss at 850MHz. I would recommend the 100ft of LMR400 but supplement your Discone with a small gain type 700/800 antenna and diplex it with the Discone onto the one feedline. You can improve 800 reception a good 10dB by doing this.

I like to recommend the L-Com HGU-906U antenna for 800 range and these can get below $40 used on eBay. Here is one for a good price and also a suitable diplexer to combine the 800 antenna with the Discone.

L-COM 800/900 MHz 6 dBi Omnidirectional Antenna & cable 900Mhz Celluar HGU-906U | eBay

The HyperLink HGV-906U is a high performance omnidirectional antenna designed for the 800 MHz / 900 MHz ISM band. Typical applications include 900 MHz Wireless LAN, SCADA, Wireless Video Links, LPWAN/IoT/M2M, and 800 MHz as well as 900 MHz Cellular band applications.

www.ebay.com

Comet CF-413 Duplexer 1.3 - 480 MHz Low Pass 840 - 1,300 MHz High Pass CF-413B | eBay

Tested and Working.

www.ebay.com

 

[Ubbe]

This is a typical discones, Sirio's 100-2000MHz one, direction pattern with 0 and 180 being the horizon and using 915MHz.
The signal level are down 15dB compared to a straight 1/4 wave steel rod antenna. A discones SWR are good in a 1:10 ratio or more from 100MHz to 1000MHz but its direction pattern starts to be bad after a 1:5 ratio in frequency.



/Ubbe