Scantenna

[earthqu8kes]

I live about 12 miles from KSMF and about 3.5 from my local GA airport. I thought about the Scantenna after reading other posts and checking around other sites. Would this be a good choice?

[dave]

It's a decent antenna - their discone is a better choice, though:

http://www.antennawarehouse.com/Scanner/Discone.htm

The real issue with any antenna is getting it mounted as high and in the clear as possible.  And...using the lowest loss feedline you can afford, especially is you will be using more than 50 feet of feedline.

Hope this helps.

-Dave

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

I purchased the scantenna in hopes of picking up KSMF. Im about 20 miles SW. I barely pick up any ATC with the squelch up all the way. I do live about 15 miles from KSUU and run that feed with clear reception. So at 12miles you will probably have a good chance at picking up ATC. I've been trying for awhile to see about getting a SMF feed up so if you need any help with cables or a spare scanner let me know.

[earthqu8kes]

Thanks for the replies. I have a $50 Radioshack card from Christmas would this work?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103160&cp=2032052.2032075.2032078.2032098&parentPage=family

I would love to provide a feed but I'm not sure whats needed and my parents already aren't very happy with the idea of putting an antenna on our roof.

[pocho]

My very first scantenna broke within a year, and I bought another one after that but it also fell apart after about 6 months.

It could have been due to the extreme heat (110F+ in summer), but I would have thought their new "Heavy Duty" material would withstand more.

When it is actually intact it works very well.

The scantenna was a good choice for me because I listen to more than just airband (it is a multi-band antenna), but if you only listen to airband then the discone would be a better choice. The discone Dave suggested is specifically designed for airband so that would be a good choice.

From what I've heard about that RadioShack discone, it is made of rather flimsy material and falls apart quite easily. Perhaps someone who owns one can chip in their opinion on it.

[Carmelo]

I got 3 of the ICOM-AH7000 Discones and the Airband performance is excellent and you do pay a bit more than other discones but you get 50 feet of good qusality low loss coax from japan and 2 N type connectors.I live about 80 Km from the main airport and live in a flat area and got massive power lines a kilometre away and i can hear ground controllers talking to aircraft and the tower and my antennas are 8 metrs high and i had plenty of other discones in the past but these outperformed all of them and i been monitoring the airbands for 32 years.

Regards Lino (Melbourne Australia)
ALINCO-DJX2000/AOR-3000A/AOR-8200MK3/AOR-8600MK2/ICOM-R3/ICOM-R5
ICOM-R20/ICOM-PCR1000/ICOM-PCR1500/ICOM-R2500/ICOM-R9000/ICOM-R9500
UNIDEN-245/UNIDEN-396/UNIDEN-780/UNIDEN-996/RADIO SHACK-SHACK-PRO96/REALISTIC-PRO2035/YAESU-VX7R/YAESU-VR500/YAESU-VR5000

[Fryy/Avocadoflight]

so im thinking you might want to go with one of those discones mentioned above. today i left my house and noticed my scantenna dangling in half on my roof, no thanks to this winter storm that moved in. fortunately its still working the same as when it was intact.

[earthqu8kes]

Yep the storms that came through knocke our power out for 36 hours. It got really cold in the house since the heater wouldn't work and you couldn't warm up by going outside

[KTAN John]

I have recently put up a discone and the results have not impressed me. I live about 15nm from EWB and 30nm from BOS and cannot get the slightest scratch from towers. I can't even receive ATIS from EWB.

The antenna is mounted on top of my two-story, about six feet above the peak, and about 30ft from power lines along the main road.

Maybe my feed lines are too long? 

[Jason]

I have recently put up a discone and the results have not impressed me. I live about 15nm from EWB and 30nm from BOS and cannot get the slightest scratch from towers. I can't even receive ATIS from EWB.

The antenna is mounted on top of my two-story, about six feet above the peak, and about 30ft from power lines along the main road.

Maybe my feed lines are too long? 

What coax are you using?

[KTAN John]

Jason, I'm using RG-58 w/PL-259 connectors and PL to BNC adapter and a length of RG-62/U to reach its destination.

Is this my problem?

[Jason]

Jason, I'm using RG-58 w/PL-259 connectors and PL to BNC adapter and a length of RG-62/U to reach its destination.

Is this my problem?

How long is the RG-58 you're using (from the antenna to the scanner)?  I tried running about a 30 foot line of RG-58 but there was so much signal loss, I had to invest in RG-6 to get a good signal transfer from the antenna to the scanner.

[KTAN John]

How long is the RG-58 you're using (from the antenna to the scanner)?  I tried running about a 30 foot line of RG-58 but there was so much signal loss, I had to invest in RG-6 to get a good signal transfer from the antenna to the scanner.

I'm using 25 feet of the RG-58. I bought that at Radio Shack to connect to 25 feet of that old RG-62/U.

[Carmelo]

I use belden-9913 & Icom 5D-2V coax cable both are thick low loss cable i run around 22 metres at least with no problems get better cable u will see the difference.

Regards lino.

[TIGA31328]

Looks like they didn't renew their domain name yesterday, you cannot view their site now.  Hopefully they will renew it and I can check it out.

-Patrick 


RE:  http://www.antennawarehouse.com