Make your own discone scanner antenna. As a compromise between frequency and unwieldyness I settled on 130MHz as the lower bound. So anybody with a police/fire scanner, after Monday Dec 15th, it will be useless, County switching to different frequencies which most older scanners can't pick up. Will post results soon! Great webpage! Whether you are building one from a kit or from items laying around the house, you're sure to have a great time and learn in the process. The Discone top disc is definitely the antenna element and in this case it becomes an E field probe, which operates under a different set of rules compared to an antenna element that is a larger with respect to wavelength. You'll be very satisfied to do your radioing with an antenna you made with your own hands. This antenna is well-made, sturdy, and easy to Plus, discone antennas are unobtrusive; with a simple construction, you could even consider building your own. There are different types of designs, such as the whip antenna, dipole antenna, Yagi antenna, and discone antenna. I may even leave it up after the antenna gets here, for local chatter. Detailed illustrations are extensively used throughout the whole process of antenna Make a discone. Don't become a statistic! Very cool! If you want to design and build your own discone, there are lots of resources on the internet. solder your antenna plug to the other end of the coax. The best ways to construct a scanner antenna is to take your full length of coax and remove the outer insulation AND the shield for about 21 or 22 inches from one end leaving the inner wire A Discone is a wideband antenna that is a great starting antenna for general RTL-SDR use. Building a discone can be difficult, but ByTechLab shows that with a 3D printer it is possible to print the aluminum rod mounts, which significantly reduces construction complexity nexus, that is a fartacular idea! You got me thinking now, I was gonna get a cell phone antenna and use that for 800 - 950 MHz and just suffer the losses ect, but making a discone might be a better option. Aug 12, 2015 · I am trying to build a discone antenna with a frequency range of 30-512MHz. For scanning a wide band of frequencies. This antenna is the primary workhorse for my "Tested" practical antenna test series. This book is one of a series designed to help anyone who wants to construct antennas for radio transceivers but who has only a basic knowledge in radio - communications technology. Your RadioShack Discone Scanner and Ham Base Station Antenna is our most efficient omnidirectional antenna system, combining a disc (4) antenna with electrically matched radiators. For the LNA something like the LNA4ALL could be used if building it yourself. For VHF and UHF it is ideal for a base station and/or a scanner receiver. The approach applied in this book is similar to the do -it-yourself methods of trade books and theories are kept to a minimum. If you're a newcomer or old hat, or anywhere in between, when installing antennas, Safety First. Mar 12, 2014 · Antenna, VE3SQB Ham radio antenna design software programs and sstv,qha, amateur radio,sstv,antennas,j-pole,quad,dipole,discone,antenna program, super scanner, pdl, omni, rhcp, bazooka, coaxial dipole,skyhopper) and click the yellow diagram of a Discone for the download (discone2002. Coverage is vast and far-reaching so that you can pick up amateur radio, air traffic control, and public safety. You might actually be surprised the DX you can pull in with a good low band antenna. Having an outdoor 2 meter vertical antenna greatly improves your coverage. 02 of a wavelength. Grounding a Discone or other antenna with the main radiator isolated from ground will not help the sparking, there will still be a static buildup across the coax. Perfect for SDR use while underway. That sounds like a neat idea. The discone is an omnidirectional and vertically polarized antenna, lending itself to many applications. A discone is a type of wideband antenna, so it is commonly used with SDRs like the RTL-SDR that have huge frequency ranges. Introduction I have been getting into software defined radio via RTLSDR and found the stock antennas woeful for reception and picked up a tonne of noise from my LCD and laptop - though it's hardly surprising. For my RX only discone antennas I run RG6 75ohm coax. New scanners that cover the new I currently have a RadioShack Discone antenna I purchased ears ago and did not have any issues with it. I don't have a whole lot of space, so the smaller the better. Hi guys! I want to build my own discone antenna. There are some tips and tutorials in the internet, but i don't know what kind… It's difficult to force good low band coverage out of a discone. Knowing how to build a multiband scanner antenna for UHF, VHF and higher bands will help a person understand how the antenna works as well as keep up to the minute on the exciting news and events around his city. If you have a local club, I bet someone would be willing to help you out and let you use their antenna analyzer to make sure you got it right. • Practical Ham Radio Testing Want the best HT antenna? Except I used 14/2 household wire, pulled and stripped the individual copper wires and built my discone out of that. The best ways to construct a scanner antenna is to take your full length of coax and remove the outer insulation AND the shield for about 21 or 22 inches from one end leaving the inner wire Well before I got a GMRS license I was a radio hobbiest in a more general sense, and my sort of "workhorse" antenna for VHF and UHF is a Taurus D-1000 discone antenna which lives atop a 21ft mast from ground level. When you first get your license, 2 meters is usually the first band you get on. 950 MHz) for EMS operations. If you're up for it, try building your own! It's very easy to build your own 1/4 wave vertical for 2m or a j-pole. Here, you'll find links for antennas covering 30 Mhz and up. The discone will have a wider frequency range than a dipole, but probably won't pull in a given signal better than a properly-adjusted dipole. I currently own several scanners… some are base models such as my Pro-2006 and some are hand-held models such as my UBC3300XLT and my newest, THE Pro-106 Do this to hook up 4 or 5 different length di-poles and then the last coax length goes to your scanner. exe, 260KB) Discone: This guide will teach you how to make a durable discone antenna aimed at the rtlsdr crowd. Tom Umm, Tom, the problem with your design is that you cannot make a discone with 4 wires as the skirt. My house acts like a Faraday cage, I'm lucky to get one bar of cell service inside. Any recommendations for a reasonable, simple design aircrft band antenna? Mainly will be used for civilian band ,nearby airport, about 3 miles away, but some terrain masking signals, tower good, local traffic good, ground and more distant needs improvement Over the southern hemiphere summer of 2016/2017 I made a flurry of antennas tuned to 1090MHz to capture position information from aircraft ADS-B … 14 votes, 11 comments. Discone Antenna Poor Reception It's frequently stated that Discone antennas have poor reception, however, this isn't necessarily true. Each design has its own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the specific use case and the frequencies you want to monitor. 4GHz. The cone-like skirt of the discone radiates the signal—radiation from the disc on top is minimal. I was thinking of mounting a 2 meter antenna a little lower below the wind generator using a side mount, also maybe a discone scanner antenna below it. This antenna One advantage of the discone is that its maximum current area is near the top of the antenna, where it can radiate away from ground clutter. Be practical. Cone Component: Since this antenna will be used with a scanner and I have no real interest in frequencies below 136mhz and due to the length of the materials that I will make the cone radials - 48"x1/8"1/2" aluminum flat stock - each cone element will be 23" long - by the formulas, the lowest freq that the antenna will receive will be 127mhz. Find tools for building log periodic, vertical, Yagi, loop, and more antennas. Making an indoor discone is a lot easier as it doesn't have to withstand high winds. I'm looking for a way to set my scanner up at home, and receive a good amount of signals, until I finally get my discone antenna. Ideally the skirt (the cone) of the antenna is solid, but if made from a cage of wires the bottom separation between elements should be no more that 0. After some research I happened upon VE3SQB’s site and a neat discone design program for Windows. It has the advantage of being much smaller than a discone and it can also be fully enclosed in a plastic radome to that fully protects it from weather elements. If you want to experiment with the number of radial’s, Then don’t go below 8 on the bottom and 8 on the top. Couple that with being in a valley, and next to the woods and it's a real RF hole. Over on his blog author ByTechLab has posted about his 'mostly 3D printed' discone antenna. Good commercial discones are cheaper than $100-150 and are known to work well. You can use it to receive and transmit a wide range of signals, including amateur radio, aircraft, and other special services, on your scanner or other receiver. It can be done, but you can do better. A Discone is a good general antenna for the rtl-sdr as they are extremely wideband, and can be expected to be useful over almost the entire frequency range that is tuneable by the the rtl-sdr. txt) or read online for free. After some research I happened upon VE3SQB's site and a neat discone So to improve the situation and spend as little as possible I decided to make a discone antenna. A receive only gas discharge tube lightning arrestor will help some but it will only fire at some prescribed voltage that might be higher than what will damage the receiver. I mean it isn't practical. If you try to use less than 8, It will start to perform poorly. None of this invalidates the use of the antenna - a Discone behaves the same way with screwy polarisation and radiation patterns once you get past the 800MHz point. 14 votes, 11 comments. A discone's main advantage is its very wide frequency range, not that it's a wonderful antenna for pulling in weak signals. Just for Fun • Make a jackleg antenna your favorite ducky or other portable antenna stacks up to your J-pole. Contains Design and Construction of a Discone Antenna for 140-150 MHz. 4GHz: Here I will show you how to make a discone antenna for 2. All of these documents base the size according to Portable Discone Antenna Back to overview Build a portable discone antenna that packs down to a compact size. In addition, specific models mentioned in the Antennas forum at RadioReference are linked here for future reference. Making your own Discone Antenna - Free download as PDF File (. com, user cyfus has created an instructable showing how to build a 55 MHz+ home made discone antenna for his RTL-SDR dongle. I also used a spare 45 record holder I had laying around as an insulator. This worked a treat for me and was for better then any " desk top" antennas or rubber ducks and was as good as a loft mounted discone. I looked this morning on the net at Nov 18, 2023 · Another important aspect of a scanner antenna is its design. Make this link a must read. All that's means is the built in antenna on the Pro-2004 does not work well at all. A search for “discone antenna design” yielded dozens of references, including: White Paper – Discone Antenna Design Discone Antenna Calculator Let me know if you’ve built your own discone or how it goes when you do roll your own. So i have recently experimented with making my own antenna, I believe i have been pretty successful in my creations with the average reception ranging for 20-40 miles, Even more impressive due to the fact i live in a mountainous region. . Get the broad bandwidth the discone is known for in a simple, durable, inexpensive, and field I'm looking to make something cheap that will boost my signal better than the little telescopic antenna on the back of my uniden scanner. It's marketed as a "scanner antennas" but does state that it's capable of transmit New equip came in for my home comm setup, quick video on assembly of the Diamond D130NJ discone antenna. This antenna is well-made, sturdy, and easy to Welcome to the Scanner Antennas page. This antenna can be used to transmit on the 2 meter and 70 cm ham bands. Cheaper too! An indoor discone can be built out of coathanger wire. Discone Antenna: The Discone Antenna This is my first time on instructables. Portable Discone Antenna Back to overview Build a portable discone antenna that packs down to a compact size. Indoors is different. I am concerned that the 2 meter antenna mounted on a side Mount will be to close to the tower and raise the SWR to high. Antenna Under Test Indicator Calibrated Step Standard Attenuator Talkie in Standard Position range to see how In this well-produced video from GUERRILLACOMM, we learn how to assemble the versatile Diamond D 130NJ Discone Antenna, which provides good coverage of the VHF/UHF amateur radio bands and the 800 MHz public service bands. Normally, a Discone antenna is much more sensitive to high frequencies than lower ones, and so they have a tendency to get stronger signals in the higher frequency arrays. That’s how to make a basic discone antenna, Traditionally these antenna’s are made with sheet metal materials. Thi… The DIY Scanner Discone By KJ4DGE I rent a room in a area of Alexandria far enough away from Metro DC to be a hindrance to listening to VHF/UHF. Thi… Discone Antenna 2. There are some tips and tutorials in the internet, but i don't know what kind… Discone antennas and Coax my preferences. 1 I used a aluminum tube and some coax, I toke about 10 I am just about to build couple of discone antennas to cover 100MHz to 2GHz for my new AR3000A. Discone: This guide will teach you how to make a durable discone antenna aimed at the rtlsdr crowd. Over on instructables. I will show you how to build a complete discone antenna with just materials from home depot and radioshack in one afternoon for about 100 to 150 dollars. The other thing that happens is the radiation pattern (directivity for RX) begins to change and the horizontally polarised component of the (vertical) antenna increases. I'm planning on goining out the window of my garage and up about 20 feet. A field deployable discone antenna that you can build yourself. This antenna may be something to consider if you are thinking about building your own wideband antenna. pdf), Text File (. Would this antenna work better than the little telescopic??? Any suggestions are price is no worry, base station, antenna with highest gain for all band scanner? X700HNA Dualband Base/Repeater Antenna ? Or am I just better off with a wideband discone? Like the D3000N? The discone is vertically polarized with a similar gain of a vertical one half wave dipole. Another page on a home made Discone also designed for a minimum of 130MHz is here with some brief instructions links to design calculators. Anyone know of any good plans for a homebrew scanner base antenna? I'm mostly interested in 100-200mhz and 400-500mhz. 060 MHz) for fire operations and UHF(462. Within the past year the Fire and Forsale Lander Own it today for $1,911, or select Lease to Own or make an offer. My one advantage is I am on the second floor. So to improve the situation and spend as little as possible I decided to make a discone antenna. Do whatever you can to either a) make a fool-proof switch between each radio so that you can't TX into either the scanner or to complete open, or b) do what it takes to put up a 2nd antenna, especially located at least 2 or 3 feet away from whichever is the one for the transmitter. Can someone point me in the right direction in how to build one with this bandwidth? I was researching the internet and came across a few documents on technique used. His instructions show how to build it out of parts and tools sourced entirely from hardware and electronics stores. I was using it as wide-band coverage as my home county was using VHF Low-band (46. Explore a variety of online antenna calculators for designing and calculating antenna dimensions. A 1/4 wave low band antenna is pretty easy to make, you can even start off with an old CB antenna as a starting point. Discone VHF-UHF Antenna The discone band antenna This article build a very your UHF scanner. com, so I am a newbie here, sorry not being very meticulous in expressing the steps correctly. A tripod roof mount with 20' of mast is usually on the edge of practical so you don't need additional guys and bracing of the roof. Using this antenna cyfus was able to receive In this well-produced video from GUERRILLACOMM, we learn how to assemble the versatile Diamond D 130NJ Discone Antenna, which provides good coverage of the VHF/UHF amateur radio bands and the 800 MHz public service bands. Any suggestions for low cost, sudo-temperary antenna? Getting the antenna as far above your own house as possible is good for reducing noise from your own house and extending line of sight to the horizon. I've attached a simple diagram to give you an idea. 287n, ytwuw, fxjye, lt4b, ynlhpx, g4g305, kf3w, 7lbqb, ggc04, iinbje,