I just picked up an ST2 so I will have it buy Friday and on the tower buy Saturday so time will tell
What is your opinion on the Best Base Antenna out there
- Thread starter ScanMaine
- Start date
- Status
The ST2 scanner antenna. Does that come with a female end to screw a pL259 plug into it. I wanna use RG8 coax not the RG6 that comes with it??????
The ST-2 antenna comes with a 75 ohm transformer into an RG-6 female. This antenna works really well as long as you mount it as high as possible and vertically. I ended up running about 75 to 100 feet of RG-6 into 4 radios and it seems to work really nice without an amp on it. Dont need it. Actually it works better than my Diamond D130J Discone antenna
Ya but all I have is RG 8 coax.. I have No rg6 and I dont want to put an adapter in the middle and kill it even more, ya know
Then I guess its time to figure out what adapters you will need to make that happen for you if this is what your heart desires.
possible if you have RG-8 N or UHF connectors then you will need to figure out what adapters you will need to make it from 75 ohm RG-6 to N or UHF connections.
possible if you have RG-8 N or UHF connectors then you will need to figure out what adapters you will need to make it from 75 ohm RG-6 to N or UHF connections.
Im sure I can go from Rg 6 to Rg8 but what is my loss goona be and is it bnc off of the rg6
Well you are going to have to get your test meter out and test the connection before and after. Nobody is going to be-able to give you an exact loss of DB. There are a lot of variables involved with what kind of cable and the length of the run.
prcguy
Member
You can get a an SO-239 (or N female) to male F adapter for a couple of $ and that will mate your RG-8 to the transformer on the ST-2. You can also get cable mount female type N for the radio end of the coax and use an RG-58 N to BNC jumper to the scanner. That would keep the entire feedline 50ohm.
prcguy
prcguy
Im sending the antenna back and buying OmniX Scanner Base Antenna DPD Productions - Scanner, Aviation, NOAA, Low-Band, 700 MHz Public Safety, Base & Mobile Radio Antennas for Commercial & Hobbyist Applications 2nd one down
I want to use RG8 coax and nothing less!!! Thanks though
I want to use RG8 coax and nothing less!!! Thanks though
Thats a nice antenna and plus it have some gain which they are made and professionally tuned. Report back when its installed
Ok so The ST2 antenna showed up today. I was gonna order the Onmii antenna, but something is telling me to stick with the ST2 antenna. The last time I had it up i only used the 50 feet of Coax that came with the radio now the ST2 is gonna be mounted on 20 ft or mast at about 830 ft Sea level. My question is to i use an extra 50 ft of rg8 I already have to bring it all in the house to the radios or do I spend the money and buy adapters and buy rg6 that I don't have???
John_S
Member
Your best solution is go with one solid piece of RG-6 and just use one adapter to BNC at the radio end. The 50 ohm approach, using adapters and PL-259's, will work, but not as good. RG-6 and F connectors are designed to be used in systems that use a lot of bandwidth. With 50 ohm stuff, the issue isn't the coax so much as the connectors. The old style PL-259 and SO-239 are really dinosaurs as far as connectors go, and there are impedance issues when you start looking at frequencies 400 mHz and up. It works, but there are better ways and that's one of the reasons N connectors are available. The 50 ohm system is more convenient, but the 75 ohm system will work better and for not a ton of extra money. RG-6 Quadshield is cheaper than LMR-400.
so you say go buy 100ft of RG 6 and put a bnc screw on type on at the end???
Yes I seem to have very good results with about a 75 ft run of RG-6 to a two way splitter. Then to two scanners. Make sure you use good pressure fittings. People say that you need RG-8 50 ohm but RG-6 75 ohm surprising works great for scanners. Hands down the ST-2 is going work amazingly for you
That's what I would do, or even better buy a compression tool and put on a bnc connector without any adapters
John_S
Member
That's exactly what I would do...although not sure about the radio end. I'm not sure that there are BNC connectors ready to go directly on to RG-6. And then it must match up to the type of RG-6...quadshield or not.Might be easier to go with F connectors on both ends and look for an F to BNC adapter. If anyone has experience here, please jump in. Also curious if anyone has found a good source for this cable...especially on Amazon. I'm also tempted to start a thread on the tools that are handy for working with RG-6...the crimper and the cutter. I've watched cable and satellite installers do several runs of this stuff and always been amazed at how easy they make it look. Proper tools make magic. Anyone have recommendations on these?
I bought a nice little kit at Home Depot, has the compression tool, coax stripper and cable cutter. The compression fittings are much better than the crimp type and I wouldn't even consider the twist on ones. I have seen the compression BNC fittings at HD too. Amazon has it all too if you like to shop there.
I use twist on connectors all the time and tighten them up with wrenchs, I also have the kit stated above too
- Status
