- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
Those of you that have a store bought omni directional base station antenna, what do you have? Looking for recommendations.
Amateur Radio FAQ
- Thread starter K31
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Deep Thought
Active Member
I'm a fan of Ed Fong's antennas. See the DBJ-1 for 2m/440 base use: https://edsantennas.weebly.com/about.html
Ed sells them via Ebay.
For what frequency(ies)?
Winged Pig
Active Member
For VHF I started with this one mounted in my attic:
http://mikestechblog.com/ubuntu-antenna/build-a-2-meter-vertical-antenna/
It worked pretty good, but only on 2m.
I then picked up a Diamond X30 and it seemed to work better on VHF and it also works for UHF. This is also mounted in my attic.
For HF I have an OCF (from NI4L http://www.ni4l.com) mounted about 50 feet in the trees along an approximate 140 - 320 axis. I have made contacts somewhat off the ends in South Africa and Hawaii, as well as south America, so it appears to be fairly omnidirectional. I'm also only using 80 watts, so I'm pretty impressed with the antenna.
J-poles types have nice gain and are easy to mount since they don't require radials. Arrow makes one that I've heard good things about but people are making knockoffs of it and selling them since the plans are online. On ebay they also sell the "homemade" type of j-pole made from copper pipe or some other type of metal rod. Not all of those designs though are dual band like the Arrow one. There are also a lot of people selling j-pole and slim jim antennas made from ladder line and twin lead. Some are dual band, most are not. They need to be correctly mounted on something straight (and transparent to RF), or stretched between two points so they aren't twisted to operate correctly.
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/1613
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Keystone70
MSI Executive Member
For 2m/70cm I have the Diamond X50. For HF, I have an Endfed Wire in a tree. The diamond is excellent. I can talk to Easton from Elkridge and have also hit Salisbury. The Endfed has made it to Stuttgart and Slovenia so far.
- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
Thanks for the info!
gamer_jim
Podcaster
I've got one of these and it is fantastic. I can chat with someone through a repeater that's 50mi away using 75 watts.
- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
Jim, what rig are you using?
- Dec 13, 2015
- 1,940
Liquid electrical tape would also work well.
gamer_jim
Podcaster
I bought something like that for non-standard shapes such as where coax connects to a ladder line antenna. You have to make sure it's for outdoor use plus make sure you get complete coverage to ensure it will keep out water. At a job I had many years ago they used a product to seal the connections to LNAs on antennas that I saw became brittle after a year or so. Also, some products that people use for sealants have solvents in them that aren't recommended for use around the component materials of some coaxes.
- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
I'm looking for the springs that you attach to antenna cable to avoid bending & crimping where it connects to a portable radio. Google isn't any help, or I'm just not describing it correctly. You guys know any possibilities?
I haven't really seen that on coax cable for RF, only on audio cables (or real old appliances). I do see some cable makers, and I done this myself, put a short piece of heat shrink tube on the cable where it joins or goes into the cable.
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A couple of other possibilities if you are dead-set on strain relief "springs". Amazon has a variety of these, you'll probably have to attach with a cable tie:
https://smile.amazon.com/Uxcell-a15111000ux0505-Rubber-Strain-Protector/dp/B019DCXAE8/
Another, if you want an actual metal spring, is to buy a 1/4 phone plug with one. The spring usually just slides out of the body when you unscrew the plug. Assuming it's built to use a cable the same diameter as your coax.
https://smile.amazon.com/Uxcell-a15111000ux0505-Rubber-Strain-Protector/dp/B019DCXAE8/
Another, if you want an actual metal spring, is to buy a 1/4 phone plug with one. The spring usually just slides out of the body when you unscrew the plug. Assuming it's built to use a cable the same diameter as your coax.
- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
Thanks K! I used heat shrink tube on my sma to 259 pigtail, but in order to use it on the rg8 with 259 connectors I'd have to remove one. With a spring I can just wind it on. I'll check out lowes, I know they carry springs but don't know how small. It's not really a critical issue, just wanted to avoid problems down the road.
I found this.
https://buyheatshrink.com/heatshrinktubing/shrink-wrap-slit-tubing.php
You could also try to find some 4:1 or 6:1 heat shrink tubing that will slide over the connector.
https://www.cableorganizer.com/heat-shrink/heat-shrink6.htm
- Dec 30, 2012
- 6,999
Wow, thank you sir for looking this up!
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