Scantenna better than discone?

[timmer]

Does anyone out there know if the "scantenna" sold by antenna warehouse and grove will out-perform a diamond discone? I have been using a diamond discone mounted at about 45 feet for many years. I have read several comments about the scantenna being "the best" antenna for both mil. air and vhf high band. Would it be worth my time and money to pull the discone down and put up a scantenna? Also, I am looking to improve my lo-band vhf reception, specifically around 42mhz. The discone does only a fair job (at best) on lo-band. How does the scantenna perform on lo-band? Any info on this is appreciated.

 

[Highlander_821]

I have both a discone (RS) and a Scantenna. The Scantenna is mounted a few feet lower than the discone (They are on seperate mounts, 30 or 40 feet apart.) The Scantenna beats the discone on VHF-lo and VHF-hi, they seem about even on 400-470, Scantenna wins again for 800-900 Mhz. Both have Davis Bury-flex cable, the discone has the longer run of the two. The difference is most pronounced on VHF-lo. In every situation so far encountered, though, the radio connected to the discone can receive the station in question, we're only talking about a few microvolts of difference in most cases.

More height might help your reception more than a different antenna, I don't know. I would suggest keeping the discone and putting up a Scantenna, so you can have the best of both worlds, like I do. (I also use the discone for transmitting on 50 Ham, 144 Ham, 151-154 MURS, 440 Ham, and 462-467 FRS/GMRS.)

 

[timmer]

Thanks for your reply. I have the discone mounted at the top of my tower with a scanner beam mounted about 5-6 feet below it. The beam is locked in a northerly direction. It does an excellent job on most of the spectrum and it nulls intermod and interference that comes from the city, which I am located a couple of miles to the west. It does extremely well to the north, (of course), and still recieves strong to medium signals from all around. I'm thinking of putting it up on the top of the tower with a rotor and putting a scantenna down below it, and removing the discone all together. Anyway, thanks for your reply.

 

[JGP]

I know this is a little off topic, but has any one tried to use RG8/U coax with a Scantenna antenna?

I got snowed by the advertising for a Nil-Jon base antenna which I am not happy with. Now I have the antenna with 50' of RG8/U coax.

The Scantenna is going back on the tower, but I am just wondering if the RG8/U cable will work. Grove sells an adapter, SO-239/UHF Female to F male.

Has any tried this, or should I just use the type F coax, RG6-U?

Joel

 

[TeRayCodA]

Yes, I have tried this before,with unnoticeable results.I finally went back to the RG-6.
It just did'nt make sense having all of those adapters "up there"
if I did'nt gain anything in the RX.
-been there,done that......

 

[N_Jay]

ThHere are charts available with the loss figures for the cables.

Here is one.

Others can be found atteh cable manufacturers web sites or in their catalogs.
http://www.radio-ware.com/products/techinfo/coaxloss.htm

Remember, Google is your friend! :wink:

 

[TeRayCodA]

"scantenna" sold by antenna warehouse and grove will out-perform a diamond discone?

Yes,and no.Depends on what your preference is.If you monitor aviation,the discone beats the scantenna.

If you monitor a lot of land mobile transmissions,the scantenna beats the discone.
I have a channelmaster "monitenna #5094A"(dipole cluster design)
and a 16 element discone above it.

I have noticed the difference in the two,on the aviation bands(civilian/military)where as the discone beats it hands down.
So,it depends on what you have interest in.

 

[JGP]

Thank you for the advise, TeRayCoda, and...the website, N_Jay. The RG-6 shows to be a winner.

Joel

Franklin, Wisconsin

 

[pocho]

So the discone is better than the scantenna in airband? What discone do you guys recommend?

 

[NorwalkRXing]

I have a Diamond discone with RG-6/QS, which i think is really good setup for what I moniitor..I splurged yesterday morning, and purchased some LMR-400, because I hear that it's pretty good..But, I also really like the reception that I'm getting with the RG-6/QS..I hope that there will be a "noticable difference" with the LMR-400 coax...

 

[N_Jay]

I have a Diamond discone with RG-6/QS, which i think is really good setup for what I moniitor..I splurged yesterday morning, and purchased some LMR-400, because I hear that it's pretty good..But, I also really like the reception that I'm getting with the RG-6/QS..I hope that there will be a "noticable difference" with the LMR-400 coax...

Well look up the loss for each over the length you have and you will know almost EXACTLY how much better it will be on any particular band.

 

[TeRayCodA]

[quote="N_Jay]
Well look up the loss for each over the length you have and you will know almost EXACTLY how much better it will be on any particular band.[/quote]

Good point!

 

[timmer]

For Pocho: Yes, I think the discone is better than the scantenna on civilian air band. Exactly how much better I don't know, but this is where the Diamond D-130j that I use seems to excel. Civilian Air band and vhf hi-band (150-174) seem to be where it's peek reception is. That's why I like the idea of using at least 2 antennas if at all possible.

 

[PointMan]

Ive used a 40 MHz Vertical Dipole suspended from a tree for a long time now. The results are great over the discone naturaly and as luck has it the cables are the exact same type and length (35 feet of RG-58) being replaced with LMR-600 very soon.

Wire antennas and VHF-low go hand in hand. You could make a permanent roof top type installation out of 1/2" aluminum rod or even out of a nice ground plane and a moble 40 MHz NMO mount antenna.

 

[radioscan]

I have both a discone (RS) and a Scantenna. The Scantenna is mounted a few feet lower than the discone (They are on seperate mounts, 30 or 40 feet apart.) The Scantenna beats the discone on VHF-lo and VHF-hi, they seem about even on 400-470, Scantenna wins again for 800-900 Mhz. Both have Davis Bury-flex cable, the discone has the longer run of the two. The difference is most pronounced on VHF-lo. In every situation so far encountered, though, the radio connected to the discone can receive the station in question, we're only talking about a few microvolts of difference in most cases.

I practically have the same set up and completely agree. The Discone works better on the 255 - 400 MHz milair band
than the Scantenna is the only other difference I see.

Mark

 

[safetyobc]

Correct me if I am wrong. It seems that for the price and free shipping and free coax included with the scantenna is a good value. From your comments it seems to perform as well as most discones on VHF-High, which is what I need mostly. I listen to 800 TRS system but the tower is only 1 mile from my house so reception there isn't an issue. However I have two cities at about 50 miles from my house I would like to monitor on VHF-High. I can pick up one of them using an antenna off of a small tv set (a single rabbit ear). I prop it up in my gutter on my house and run a piece of TV coax through the window using a BNC adapter and connect to my scanner. I get a lot of static, but the signal breaks the squelch and I can understand what is being said. I rarely monitor any air traffic, mostly public safety bands.

Will the scantenna be a good choice for me. The terrain around here is mostly flat with lots of trees, I live in south Arkansas, if that matters on my antenna dicision. I really would like to put the antenna in my attic but can put it outside if I have to. but I can only get about 15' in height.

 

[Highlander_821]

I think the Scantenna would be a great choice for you, but try to get it as high as you can, 15 feet is not very high. Height is everything for VHF/UHF.

 

[pocho]

I understand that the discone does a better job than the Scantenna in airband, but which antenna does better on 800 Mhz? The Scantenna or this discone? Just want to make sure. Thanks

 

[safetyobc]

I have put the scantenna up about a couple weeks ago and don't have any negatives. I am hearing 50 + miles easy. The airband, I live 100 miles from the nearest major airport (Little Rock, AR) I hear commercial air traffic all the time while using the service search function and also have a few very active air freqs programmed in. I can only hear the airplanes and never the control, but I never expected to hear them. I think it does an okay job on airband, however on VHF-High and 800 band, it is a very directional type antenna. It took me a week to find the right direction to point it in to get a good signal from the systems I wanted to monitor.

 

[squale]

you guys think I will get airport control towers about 20 miles away from me while using a Scantenna mounted on my roof? what is the size mast you recommend for mounting the Scantenna off the side of your roof overhang?

Thanks