Your Opinion: Best VHF Outdoor Base Antenna for under $200

[APSN556]

The subject says it all, however a few more things to mention...

I live at 8,000 feet MSL in a very mountainous forested area. We are prone to heavy winds, snow, and lightning. I primarily listen to VHF 150mhz to 178mhz.

Thanks in advance!

CB

 

[majoco]

Make a J-pole. Plenty of info on the Wiki.

 

[ScannerDude244]

I'm using this one and works great!

Item # FG1523, Fiberglass Omnidirectional Wireless Antennas on Laird Technologies

 

[mpddigital]

One piece of advice.. Think of your antenna as a system. The components are the antenna, cable and connectors. I've seen way to many folks buy an expensive antenna and hook it to their radio with cheap crappy coax. A nice antenna receiving signals through cheap RG-58 is like driving a Vette with a four cylinder engine.

A good system does Not have to be expensive, good quality US made coax can still be had for under 50 cents a foot that will work fine for VHF use depending on the distance you need to run. What you want to avoid is hooking up a 10 DBi gain antenna and connecting to it with a cable run that has 8DB of attenuation and wondering what happened Times Microwave has a great calculator here that will give you the total loss for a run with all types/brands of cable. Note this is good quality coax they are comparing against each other, YMMV

Attenuation & Power Handling Calculator

 

[APSN556]

I have 100 feet of RCF600 Cable (I've been told its the same as LMR-600)

The J pole design seems to be what I'll get, but I'm not to keen on building it myself. There's a guy on ebay that sells them for under $30 and they are made from copper tubing. $30 seems pretty cheap, is this a classic case of "you get what you pay for?"

 

[mpddigital]

Never heard of RCF600 and can't find it on Google so I don't know how it compares but LMR-600 can be a very low loss coax for many purposes and overkill for most. For VHF it should be More than enough.

 

[exkalibur]

If you are willing to spend $200 and want a good antenna, don't waste your time building anything. While I understand the spirit of "home brew", you'll often have more troubles than they're worth.

Pick up an SRL-210C2 if you can. They're a commercial quality antenna and work better than ANYTHING else you'll find, for the size. Used, I've seen them as low as $100. Sinclair Technologies Online Product Catalog - SD212-SF2P2SNM


Or, if you prefer something that is really bullet proof: Sinclair Technologies Online Product Catalog - SG201-SF2SNM

I've used both - you won't regret it.