Transmission1

Gemini4 wrote:To be honest, i just hope my white stick holds up in these gales on another note i've been listening and broadcasting on my white stick and have to admit
i was sure i picked up more with the discone?

Depends on frequency. A dual band antenna will be most sensitive on 145Mhz and 433Mhz, but the performance will fall off either side of these frequencies.

A discone will be better at military air frequencies (250 - 400Mhz) than a white stick would be. But conversely, a white stick will work better at 2m and 70cm.

In reality you would need fit all versions of the antennas mentioned such as a discone a long wire and a white stick, just to cover the wide band frequencies we monitor no antenna can do it all perfectly no matter what the manufacturers claim!:lol:

I have got my white stick up, used rg213 coax and I haven't noticed any difference . I have connected both scanners up 1 to the white stick and 1 to the discone no difference. The discone is in the loft,and white stick on the roof.
I have only tried it on civil air band at present. The discone is only a desktop

Folded dipole will always win

I have 2 X-30s,one in the loft and another mounted at the side of the house.The latter had to be mounted in such a position that I had to leave off the 3 radials.Is this likely to make a great difference in reception as I use both for scanners?The one in the loft is brilliant for airband, but the radial-less one is not just as good.But then its mounted very close to the wall of the house,so this may be the reason,but I'd just like to be sure.Thanx.

No not at all as these are counterpoises for when transmitting and should not effect the receive performance.

Ok JGR thanx for that.I'll need to look into re-locating this one then.Its obviously being blocked by the house wall so I'll need to get it higher.

Try your hardest to make sure it is clear of all objects, but you already know that by the sounds of it.

Having covered my x-30 in black self-amalgamating tape,I was a little disturbed to read this in a Patents website:

1. A conduit wrapping, comprising:
a uniformly blended strip of self-amalgamating material composed of 3-14 parts polyolefin, 10-20 parts solid polyisobutylene tackifier, carbon black and a rubber blend composed of conjugated diene butyl rubber and halo C4 -C5 olefin rubber.

The carbon black bit worries me.Is this tape likely to affect reception on this antenna.I've seen posts on this forum advising people to use white,rather than black plastic piping when enclosing their twigs for this very reason.Or is carbon black just a colourant?

Why would you cover it in self amalgamating tape?
For one that stuff is not cheap and that is rather wasteful, if you are trying to hide it then you would be so much better to paint it and yes the tape may make a slight difference upon reception.

Surely vinyl electrical tape is sufficient? I just put up my x-30 in the loft, had to change from 75ohm 3c-2v cable I was using, to rg-58 cable, made a fair difference over my Excalibur I was using, now airband is very busy! Just have to turn wifi off as it seems to cause interference

JGR,it was purely for camouflage reasons.A WHITE stick is all too obvious,and living where I do,it wouldn't be there for very long.Its also more weather resistant,and being outside,ordinary electrical tape wouldn't do.Its amazing how s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y that stuff is so a little goes a long way.However if its going to affect reception then I may paint it,or strip it and move it indoors.I have another x-30 in the loft and this one seems to out-perform the tape covered one,but then it's lower down,at the side of the house and covered in tape so maybe that's why.Thanx for the input chaps.

No problem, I would try and get the antennas as high and clear as possible and paint it a dull drab grey or a blend of greys to break up the outline as they do with most fighter planes as this seems to be the best choice of colour to blend in with the sky.

JGR wrote:No problem, I would try and get the antennas as high and clear as possible and paint it a dull drab grey or a blend of greys to break up the outline as they do with most fighter planes as this seems to be the best choice of colour to blend in with the sky.

My old stick I had on the old House, I brushed on the old black tyre dressing rubbery type paint as it was in them days, 20 odd years later its still up there, a liittle faded and weather worn also with the crap thats in the atmosphere, which helps to take eyes away from it more.
worked absolutley fine no problems at all.
Thanks to author of this thread found it intresting as was about to post about info on a not in your face best buy stick, as been away from Scanning for a while, to see whats new out there.
I have found a 3 radialed black stick from Nevada think it was for £40
If I did get a white stick, itll be Aerosolled in either a satin or matt black, or a grey Primer.

Is any paint ok for these ?, something like a dull grey car aerosol primer? I am thinking of painting up my diamond D777 White stick I have for civil and military airband, also looking at the new CCW wide band active antenna with its two rf outputs