Author Topic: What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?  (Read 9880 times)

Offline squale

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« on: April 20, 2005, 01:04:08 PM »
I was just doing some research on outdoor antennas and think that I narrowed it down to either the "Scantenna" or the "Diamond Discone" antenna.  Just can't decide which one would be better for picking up aircraft in the air and ATC on the ground at airports?  I would also like to transmit from my house to local pilots flying around, etc.



Offline PHL Approach

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Re: What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the bes
« Reply #1 on: April 20, 2005, 05:37:09 PM »
I have the Diamond Discone, it's so sturdy. It definately increases reception distance also.

Quote from: squale
I would also like to transmit from my house to local pilots flying around, etc.


That's illegal, you would need an FCC Operators license.

Offline JetBlue

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #2 on: April 20, 2005, 07:18:26 PM »
Definitely a discone...good for VHF and UHF. And I agree with the other poster...I wouldn't talk to the aircraft, unless you want a visit from the local Homeland Security folks... :shock:

Offline pocho

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #3 on: April 20, 2005, 07:27:19 PM »
I've got a scantenna and it does a great job, but I've heard that discones are best for airband. :wink:

Offline dave

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #4 on: April 20, 2005, 08:19:48 PM »
The reality with discones is that they have unity (0dB) gain.  That means that they neither amplify nor attenuate signals.  Their primary "feature" is that they cover a wide frequency range, and they do a great job of doing that.

The Scantenna uses a clustered dipole design and likely has a small amount of gain, maybe 2-3dB (almost doubles received signal), if that.

Whether one works better for you than the other will really be dependent on your distance from the airport and your terrain.

Regardless of antenna gain, though, the best thing you can do is mount the antenna as high and as in the clear as possible.  If you do that, either one of these antennas will work well.

-Dave

Offline AmericaWestCMH

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #5 on: April 20, 2005, 08:44:39 PM »
Grove Beam III.

Offline squale

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2005, 09:11:44 AM »
yeah so wouldn't you want an anteanna that has some gain to it?

Offline dave

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What outdoor roof mounted antenna do people find the best?
« Reply #7 on: April 21, 2005, 09:17:11 AM »
Quote from: squale
yeah so wouldn't you want an anteanna that has some gain to it?


It depends.

If the gain is achieved by making the antenna directional (like a beam), then you would only want that if you need to cover one airport or set of transmitters, and you are far enough away that an omnidirectional antenna won't provide the gain you need.  Airborne transmissions are easy to pick up, even if you have a beam pointed in the opposite direction.

If you only want to pick up airband and you want omnidirectional coverage, you're best off building your own vertical dipole, j-pole, or other type of narrowband antenna.

Most people want to listen to a wide range of frequencies...that's why the discone and Scantenna are popular.

But that GroveBeam III is a very fine antenna, if you have the room for a beam antenna and you need to steer your gain in a certain direction.  Works like a charm.

Dave