General Antenna

[tesco1]

Hi, newbie to this, i am waiting for a GRE PSR295 to arrive from Japan (ebay), and i have purchased a Watson 881 supergain to replace rubber duck. What i want is a general Antenna for Air, CB, Taxis, Ham, etc. I have a 3 metre pole on chimney of Bungalow, good vision alround, i live about 15 miles from Man Airport ( Macclesfield Cheshire) flight paths in and over my head + flyovers. I have been looking at Discones, they seem ok for general use, also about 25 metres of cable, reasonably priced any suggestions, many thanks.

[DanTheMan]

As you suggested a discone is your best option based on the range you want to cover. If you were able to narrow down your frequency range you could get a more specific, better performing antenna.

This antenna http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/3587.html covers 25 to 1500 MHz as does this discone http://www.mpantenna.com/products/pr...ation-antenna/ .

Both of the above are US based however UK dealers have similar antennas available.

[tesco1]

Many thanks DanTheMan, good antennas, slightly above my price range, looking for something £50-£60 price range, if anything comes to mind (second best) please let me know, would RG58 cable be ok as well?

[tesco1]

Anybody know what the Sharmans Multi band Antenna is like in comparison to a Discone?

[tesco1]

+ Eurostick DX 25-2000Hz Base Scanner, looking at alternatives to discones.

[fungus]

Many thanks DanTheMan, good antennas, slightly above my price range, looking for something £50-£60 price range, if anything comes to mind (second best) please let me know, would RG58 cable be ok as well?

I'm by no means an expert but from experience, with a 25 metre cable run you might want to look for something with a lower loss that RG58. I used RG58 on my discone but with no more than about a 10 metre or approx 30ft (perhaps a tad less) run to my scanner and was advised not to make it any longer. LMR400 is what they seem to recommend for our radar units, but it's as thick as your thumb and I'm led to believe can be difficult to work with so I wouldnt recommend using that in your case. I went for the RG213/214 to replace my radar unit's cable run from my amplifier to the basestation on my 1090SJ antenna before it was blown down in a storm and found it quite adequate for a short section and had an increase in coverage and arcraft numbers though sadly, for only a short time.

This comparison table might help you decide; http://www.w4rp.com/ref/coax.html

Again from experience- there's little point in putting up a half decent antenna and then skimping on the cable. You're only going to lose signal, increase noise and ultimately, defeat the purpose.

Regards,
Gregg

[tesco1]

Thanks for reply fungus, i probably could put antenna on side of bungalow but it would not be very high, i wouldnt need as much cable, but i would be losing on the antenna position. I think i will stick to the mast on chimney thats an ideal position, you can see for miles up there, maybe get a cheaper antenna and spend a bit more on cable. I was looking on the forums and somebody mentioned Westflex 103, studied a bit on that and it seemed ok, also comes into my price range. That Eurostick DX 25-2000Hz Base Scanner Antenna i mentioned earlier is only £18 on ebay, if that is efficient and works ok, i could go for that, and spend more on cable. Us pensioners have to watch our pennies lol.