Sourcing low-cost YAGI's for experimentation- suggestions requested

[spacellamaman]

To start off here: I have heard of Amazon, yes, and thank you to anyone who suggests this. I am looking for other suggestions in this case.


Essentially I am looking for inexpensive, Yagi-type antennas to play around with some various point-to-point RX/TX, directional RX/TX, and fox-hounding type projects I am working on, the specifics of which are immaterial to my request here.

I am not looking for high quality as of yet, since this is the early stages of projects that I haven't decided how I am going to go about pursuing yet, and more importantly whether I plan to fully pursue them at all. The particular range coverage I desire for any one antenna is flexible at the moment since I am just working things out right now. Anything that covers areas between 27mHz at the bottom up to mainly 960mHz, 2.4gHz at the very top will be of interest to me.

Yagi/Uda (or even log-periodic we can dream right?) type antennas should fit my purposes, but since they aren't in demand as they once were, selection is limited, many vendors either only carry a couple if any, and radio specific/related vendors often only carry the high-quality, all-weather, nuke proof models with a price that reflects it. I don't need them yet, I know where to find the pricey high quality ones and they will come later.

I am looking for preferably one vendor for the sake of not having to open tons of new accounts everywhere (yes Amazon, again, thank you for the suggestion), but I will overlook that in favor of cost. For instance, ScannerMaster carries a good selection covering many of the ranges of what I am looking for, but $100 is the starting price (which then somehow nearly doubles with their shipping charges). I was going that route but I quickly hit 4 digits and that is just not workable right now.

Very nice, large outdoor Yagis intended for (old school yes) TV reception can be found occasionally for around $100, so I would think there have to be smaller, less robust, band specific directional antennas out there somewhere that are less costly and I am just missing them. No frills, mounts, brackets or poles needed.

Something along the lines of Opek quality, nothing fancier, where the build is not expected to handle high power or withstand extreme or even moderate environmental and/or handling/use/abuse factors. I am going to simply be holding them in hand or have them temporarily strapped up to various things in various configurations.

Not looking to fabricate either, trying to save myself time here, otherwise yeah, that would be the way to go.


I know I am asking for trouble here, but there are typically a few of ya'll that come back with really good info when these sorts of inquiries are made, so I am willing to wade through all the other.... thanks for all the replies folks!

 

[mmckenna]

Have you look at www.theantennafarm.com? They have a pretty wide selection of lower tier antennas that might fit your needs.

Other option is to trawl around on eBay, sometimes used/good ones pop up.

Log Periodic antennas might be a good choice since they can cover a lot of bandwidth (not 27-2400mHz, though), but that comes at the expensive of gain and wider beamwidth.

Dedicated, band specific Yagi's might be your best shot, and easier to find on the used market. There's a lot of good options for VHF and UHF. 700/800/900MHz are very common on eBay, and you can often find log periodic antennas that cover those bands for cellular use.

Also, building your own isn't hard. There are a LOT of good tutorials on line, including calculators that will help you find the correct dimensions. I've built a few over the years, most recently one specific to 450MHz to track down some interference at one of my sites.

 

[spacellamaman]

Have you look at www.theantennafarm.com? They have a pretty wide selection of lower tier antennas that might fit your needs.

Other option is to trawl around on eBay, sometimes used/good ones pop up.

Log Periodic antennas might be a good choice since they can cover a lot of bandwidth (not 27-2400mHz, though), but that comes at the expensive of gain and wider beamwidth.

Dedicated, band specific Yagi's might be your best shot, and easier to find on the used market. There's a lot of good options for VHF and UHF. 700/800/900MHz are very common on eBay, and you can often find log periodic antennas that cover those bands for cellular use.

Also, building your own isn't hard. There are a LOT of good tutorials on line, including calculators that will help you find the correct dimensions. I've built a few over the years, most recently one specific to 450MHz to track down some interference at one of my sites.

Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you sir, I believe that fits all my needs, looks like I am going to squeeze out under $450 for 4 yagis, shipped.

That covers a wide swath of what I am looking for and should keep me busy. Can't believe I haven't tripped over that site before.

So while I've got you on the line, ahem, I am trying to find info on something else, generally unrelated, and you popped up giving a semi-related answer, so maybe you have an idea here too?

I have a TRC-225 and a GE 3-5980A, two brick style handheld CB's sitting around, but with one handheld antenna between them. I can hook them up to mobile antennas, yes, but I would like to use both portable, at the same time.

The issue is both use rubber duckies that are solid screw in threads, instead of something nice and simple like a UHF or BNC. Tiny little threads and I seem to remember determining its the same thread size/pitch as FME connector, which of course is a center pin layout unfortunately (it turns out to be the thread to a needle inflator air pump attachment too I believe).

Any suggestions on what that kind of antenna connector is called? And would there be a chance of finding aftermarket antennas using whatever it is or was that just a short run thing for those types of radios for a short period of time?


Thanks for the help mmckenna!

 

[mmckenna]

Ask and ye shall receive! Thank you sir, I believe that fits all my needs, looks like I am going to squeeze out under $450 for 4 yagis, shipped.

That covers a wide swath of what I am looking for and should keep me busy. Can't believe I haven't tripped over that site before.

They have a good selection and their prices are often pretty good, but not always. Shop around, but they are a good place to start.

Any suggestions on what that kind of antenna connector is called? And would there be a chance of finding aftermarket antennas using whatever it is or was that just a short run thing for those types of radios for a short period of time?

No idea. If it's a stud type antenna, then it's going to be some standard bolt size. Going to a good hardware store (Not Home Depot), but like an Ace, with the big drawers of hardware, will let you try things until you find the bolt size/thread pitch that matches, then use that to see if you can find a replacement antenna.

Might be hard to find one for CB. You might have better luck replacing the antenna connector with a BNC or something more common, then buying a new antenna to match.