Window mount antenna question

[poltergeisty]

I saw this answered many, many years ago here on this site, but I don't remember what the answer was now. How do those window mount antennas work? I can see how they may work on transmit, but how on Earth do they work on receive?

I'd like to get one for my SDR in the room rather than drilling another hole to the outside and running another antenna. Do they actually sell a wide band window antenna preferably in the 25MHz-2.4 GHz range?

TIA.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Though not exactly rated for the upper limit you requested, consider this one

 

[mmckenna]

They are half wave antennas, and do not require the ground plane underneath them like many antenna designs do.

They are not "great" antennas, more of a compromise. A 1/2 wave without a ground plane under them will provide 0dB of gain compared to a quarter wave. Give them a proper ground plane and they'll do about 2.1dB of gain.

They can be a good "compromise" antenna if you really don't want to drill holes and you are sticking to a narrow band of frequencies. They won't work wideband like you are wanting, at least not well.

Other issue is that in home use, they are right up against the window, window frame and siding. If your home has aluminum siding, foil backed insulation/vapor barrier, stucco over metal lath, they are going to be detuned/shielded by it.

Will it work? Probably. Will it work well? No. Should you just drill the hole? Yeah, always drill the hole.

 

[poltergeisty]

And I'm sure they don't work behind double pained glass either?

 

[mmckenna]

And I'm sure they don't work behind double pained glass either?

Nope. Nor tinted.

 

[KevinC]

I used to have a problem drilling the hole, then I got a carbide tipped bit and that made a huge difference.

 

[StaticDischarge]

The thing about through-glass antennas is they are capacitive coupled and the thickness of the glass matters and like mmckenna said tinting along with the UV protective coatings and anything else in the way.. Older houses with leaded glass, no go... I have never had any real good luck with these antenna's and consider them a snake-oil cure and as such I will drill that hole or make a window pass through that seals the Michigan winters out!

 

[W5lz]

All glass-mounted antennas are a compromise. Depending on how much compromise you are willing to put up with, they may work just fine for you. I would not suggest using them on a house window, just too many 'other' factors enter into it as already mentioned.

 

[poltergeisty]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I'll skip this idea. I have a dipole idea and may make a post on that latter on.

 

[popnokick]

Having a single antenna that will cover your requested freq range (25MHz-2.4 GHz) is going to be VERY difficult... assuming you'd like to receive things well at both ends of the range. This antenna is very inexpensive to make, can be hung in a window, and is good up to about 800 mHz. However, above about 470 mHz it starts to "look" more at the sky with its angle of reception. LOTS of reviews and results posted here on RR regarding this antenna. (Scroll down the landing page to the variation made with hookup wire) -
Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[poltergeisty]

That looks interesting. Thanks.