Antenna suggestions for my setup

[Skyd]

Hello all - I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new scanner antenna for my listening station. I'm designing my station to (eventually) support up to 8 scanners, but probably 3 or 4 to start. It will be fed with RG6QS, mostly because it's already run from a previous sat install. The feed will be less than 20' from antenna to scanner. The antenna itself will be mounted at the edge of the roof on the front of my house with the feed point as high or higher than the ridge line. I have a metal roof.

My CURRENT setup is a 12 year old eBay discone mounted lower than my ridge line by a fair amount and on the north side of my house (not ideal really) and with 50' of RG6S run to my PRO-106.

That antenna will stay as it feeds downstairs and will give me local listening on the handheld easy enough.

SO - hopefully that paints a picture of my scenario but if I missed something crucial just ask.

Here's my question: What Antenna would be a good choice for me? I'd like something that has a little gain and performs better than the Discone (which works ok).

My PRIMARY listening frequencies fall in the 118-180 MHz and 220-470 MHz ranges. There's really not much around here for 700.800/900 listening. Maybe someday but I can upgrade or add antennas as needed. I do have some frequencies programmed in the 32-72 MHz range, I guess VHF lo, but I realize I'll likely have to accept poor performance on those. Generally quiet down there anyway.

I've looked at the DPD Omni-X and read good things about it but wondering if there's anything a little more budget friendly. If that's really my best bang for the buck I'll go that route but if I can get by cheaper that would be great.

Sorry for the long post, just trying to be thorough in my research. If you stuck in this long, congrats you get 100 internet points.

[Scott]

Hi,

First off, no one antenna is going to be ideal for all of the bands that you want to monitor. I'm going to make a few suggestions that may best cover your situation. As long as your coax runs are short you can still use RG6QS as the difference between 50 and 75 ohms for receive applications is irrelevant. You will need adapters at both the antenna end with my suggestions (F female to N male at the antenna and likely F female to BNC male at the scanner).

For your monitoring of VHF-HI and the UHF and UHF-T bands, consider a dual band omnidirectional antenna cut for and close to those bands. Here is one such antenna. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006893 . These antennas perform quite well in the VHF air band as well. They are not good performers at all for VHF-LO band. Note that this is the COMMERCIAL version of these antennas and NOT the amateur band version.

You also have an interest in the military aircraft band. a GOOD quality discone with an N connector may be your best approach. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-007912

Another milair option could be the DPD Productions MilTenna. https://dpdproductions.com/collections/ ... se-antenna

I haven't owned a MilTenna but I do have an Omni-X. To be honest I really don't think that it performs as well as advertised but it could always be my location, which has plenty of height but lacks height above average terrain. The aforementioned models of Comet antennas have been my best performers.

You want to get as far away from that metal roof if possible so some height, and as such longer coax runs, really is going to be a must for peak performance. You can surely run GOOD QUALITY RG6QS for longer than 20' runs but take a look at the loss specifications and understand that when you get higher in lengths there is going to be a trade-off. Ideally runs of Times Fiber & Cable LMR400 coax would be ideal but it is pricy. From my experience discone antennas can act really funky when there is other metal around them; the Comet dual band will be more forgiving in that regard but again get away from that roof as much as possible.

These comments are by and large made from my personal experience with antenna performance at my house, and your mileage may vary, but you get what you pay for and if you truly want a decent antenna system you are going to have to spend a little $$ to get there.

I'm sure others will comment with their experience and suggestion as well. Good luck!

[Skyd]

Thanks for the info. Ya I'm aware that this will need to be a comprimise but I'm getting acceptable results from a crappy discone located poorly in regards to my roof. As in not above the ridge line and probably only 4 feet from it on the horizontal plane...if that.

I've come to accept I'll have to give up VHF-lo, at least until/unless I invest in a second antenna.

Curious what other's experiences are. The omni-x is also appealing as it's not overly tall. Anything over 8' or so might be an issue for the location I intend to use. I'm trying to obey the "can't come without 10 feet of power lines if it falls" rule

[n1zyy]

Like Scott says, there's not really any one silver-bullet antenna. Ironically, discones are really the only ones that perform over a wide spectrum, but with low gain.

For your monitoring of VHF-HI and the UHF and UHF-T bands, consider a dual band omnidirectional antenna cut for and close to those bands. Here is one such antenna. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006893 . These antennas perform quite well in the VHF air band as well. They are not good performers at all for VHF-LO band. Note that this is the COMMERCIAL version of these antennas and NOT the amateur band version.

I have the GP-15, which is a tribander for the 6 meter, 2 meter, and 70cm ham bands. I primarily use this on the ham bands, though; I'm not sure how well a multi-band antenna with traps will perform outside of its design range.

I'm trying to obey the "can't come without 10 feet of power lines if it falls" rule

A++++. The other factor with outdoor antennas in New England is that Mother Nature will try hard to take the antenna down for you, so I think that one remains important even after it's installed.

[Skyd]

Wish I could get my hands on a scantenna. Might have to just give another discone a whirl. The OmniX seems a bit overpriced for what it is.

I wonder how a standard vhf/uhf receives in the "in between" frequencies.

I know they come tuned to be resonant on 2m and 70cm but if they were at least as good as the cheap discone on adjacent bands that would be ok too. I'd get the gain in at least some of the bands.

Something like the Comet GP-1

[Skyd]

So I think I decided I'm going to go with a Diamond D130J. My eBay discone has held up well over the years but I think this time going with something a bit better quality will be worth it at least in terms of durability. I was thinking of just getting the Tram 1411 for nearly half the price but the Diamond seems to get alot of praise.

[Scott]

If that's the one you're going to get, choose the one with the N connector for better performance at higher frequencies.

[Mark SNE Moderator]

I have that antenna. It has been a very good dual band antenna and, unfortunately, I have been using it on Zone 4 of the MSP system because I have a Discone mounted off the side of my house but I think it needs new coax, reception is very poor with it. The DJ130N actually works pretty well on the MSP system for now.

[Skyd]

Good to know thanks for the feedback! It'll be up a solid 10 feet higher than my current setup as well so that should be worth something and hopefully the improved quality over the eBay special means it'll last me a while.

[W1KNE]

Just another quick point, tip. If you are going to have the tip of your antenna higher than your roof, you will need to make sure you ground the antenna mast and the coax going into the house. Failure could cause serious issues if it gets hit by lightning. Now if you decide to "take a chance" on your own, that's at your risk. There are good documents online about proper and legal grounding.

The ground blocks don't add a lot of loss and are a good safe guard.

[NA1R]

I use a Comet GP-9"C",an 18' high gain VHF/UHF antenna cut for Commercial freqs. Works great on 800/900 also. Works great on lo band also due to length. It's the best i've had in 40 years. 11.5 on UHF and 9 on VHF...

[Skyd]

Just another quick point, tip. If you are going to have the tip of your antenna higher than your roof, you will need to make sure you ground the antenna mast and the coax going into the house. Failure could cause serious issues if it gets hit by lightning. Now if you decide to "take a chance" on your own, that's at your risk. There are good documents online about proper and legal grounding.

The ground blocks don't add a lot of loss and are a good safe guard.

Yes sir - Planning to do my best to ground all antennas per NEC 810.