| N5EAT |
Rating:  |
2005-11-23 | |
| Good compromise |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I like the performance of this antenna. I'm on my second one in 15 years. I will attest that the arms are brittle and will snap off with little provocation. The antenna functions well with a few missing arms, but more than 2 you really start to see degradation. I replaced my old broken one with a new one 2 years ago.
Also, as in a previous review, the swr on "50" is more near 48, but that's easily fixed. I just
had to loosen an allen screw and push the top stinger down an inch. It is perfectly matched
on 144 and 440.
Take care putting the antenna up, and you will probably like it. |
|
| N4UE |
Rating: |
2005-11-23 | |
| Update |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
OK, I got it up. This antenna is up only about 40 feet. It replaced a non-functional TV antenna on a small self-supporting tower at the new QTH.
I was a little concerned about comments concerning the 'quality' of this antenna.
No issues here! I purchased an M2 antenna for $350 which I can only discribe as the biggest POS to ever been slipped into a box! This RS antenna is an order of magnitude better than the vaulted M2 antenna!!!
This RS antenna, appears to be made of quality materials (I'm a retired PE) and is EXTREMELY easy to assemble (even at the top of the tower, which is where I built mine).
I got a chance to 'try it out' tonight, and the results are fantastic!!!
My MFJ 259B indicates it's resonance on 6 Meters is actually 47 MhZ. I should have trimmed the vertical whip, but my main interest with this antenna is the VHF bands for use with my R7000.
I fed the antenna with 9913 (weatherproofed at the connecter with Scotch electrical tape 'just in case'.
The MFJ 259B indicated a VERY low SWR on all bands above 50 MHz.
I'm able to hear repeaters all over the state that are not detectable on any other antenna I currently have........
Maybe I got 'an old one'? I don't care, because this antenna works!
If you can't put this antenna together, you need help !
BIG TIME!!!
ron
N4UE
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Earlier 5-star review posted by N4UE on 2005-11-17
I was in the market for a Discone antenna. I was going to make one, since I have a machine shop. I started searching the WWW for different models and found that the Diamond has some good reviews.
I must admit that some of the reviews here for this RS antenna, had me concerned. I went to the local RS today, and they had a couple of these antennas. Althought the price was $69,99, I was VERY impressed with the quality. (Maybe I got an 'older' one?)
I paid $350+ for an M2 6m JHV and it is the biggest POS I have ever had the misfortune of buying! This RS antenna is extremely well made. All the hardware is SS and there are several extra pieces! Honestly, I couldn't make one for this price.
I will give another evaluation after I get it installed and test it with my MFJ259B and also with a variety of receivers and transmitters.
So far, so good!
ron
N4UE |
|
| K3GI |
Rating: |
2005-02-15 | |
| Been up 10 years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Mine has been on my roof for about 10 years. No problems whatsoever. I use it for scanner monitoring. It has seen some duty as a transmitting antenna. It has no gain, but--hey--that's its design. Excellent for what it is.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by K3GI on 2003-10-22
Mine has been up over 10 years now and is still going strong. I bought it as a scanner antenna so I could monitor 800 Mhz. BONUS! It can be used to transmit with also. Although it is unity gain, it is a good all band vhf/uhf antenna. I bought a second one to have on hand as a replacement but have not needed it. |
|
| ALEX_NS6Y |
Rating:  |
2005-02-14 | |
| Piece of Junque!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
OK folks this is what I think has happened: RS was probably selling one made by Diamond etc and WAS a good antenna. Maybe a year or two ago, they got a cheaper model - cheaper and junkier really in ONE area - the plastic part that seperates the top and bottom, that must be an insulator for it to work, and that's made of some very weak plastic in mine, that I got a year ago, and which BROKE IN HALF.
Heck I'm KEEPING the elements, they're very well made!
What does this mean to the antenna-buying public? What it seems to me to mean is, you might not want one of the new ones, but one of the older ones that was sold a few or several years ago, might just be a SUPER antenna!
All in all if I had to do it again I"d just have gotten the Diamond one.
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Earlier 0-star review posted by ALEX_NS6Y on 2005-02-14
OK got my new antenna built and took the discone inside for a postmortem. In two pieces as it fell into two pieces as I picked it up! There's a plastic sleeve sort of thing that isolates the "hat" half on the top and the "cone" radial part on the bottom, and that had broken in half!! I'd say, if you have access to a lathe and some solid fiberglass material like they make circuit boards out of, make a new part and it should last a long time, but as it is, it didn't last a year just sitting on my patio. I can't imagine this thing lasting long out on a roof up on a pole like a lot of people set up their scanner antennas.
Now I have some nice rods to make some other kind of antenna with lol. I might use one for the 1/4 wave I just built, since I don't see the brass tubing I used lasting long.
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Earlier 2-star review posted by ALEX_NS6Y on 2005-02-12
I"ve had mine for almost a year, outside on a ground floor patio of an apartment building. That place gets some wind, rain, dust, leaves, and a daily visit by a maniac with a leaf blower. At first it worked great, but so did a an old, beat up, 1/4-wave with 3 radials. The discone seems to be very sensitive to objects in its near field, and the primitive 1/4 and 3 radials job would even work well *indoors* where it was surrounded by stuff! The only time I had trouble with the basic 1/4 wave was when the leaf blower guy, I guess, knocked it over and left it that way, the radiating element was over to the side touching the ground! Insert some profound comment about symmetry here hehe. The discone's central "hub" is loose, some radials were loose, and simply because I put some boxes of stuff on my porch, transmitting on 2-meters my IC-2100H is sensing a high SWR and only putting out 1-1/2 watt when I have it set to 5 watts. Smart radio, dumb me!
This discone is on borrowed time as far as I am concerned, I think I may be much better off with a j-pole. |
|
| KC2IGY |
Rating: |
2005-02-14 | |
| 5+ years |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've has this antenna on my roof for over 5 years, and it's still in one piece. The anetnna has survived blizzards, ice storms, and 50+ MPH winds. Performance wise, it makes a great receiving/scanner antenna, and works very well for talking on FM repeaters.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by KC2IGY on 2003-10-22
I've had mine for almost 5 years now, and it's survived 4 winters here in the North East. Performance is also better than I expected when I put it up. I use it with 4 different radios. |
|
| K1CJS |
Rating: |
2005-02-14 | |
| Good receiving antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've had one of the Radio Shack discone antennas for slightly over 3 years now. I use it for a portable workhorse antenna. I have put it together and taken it apart regularly for portable one and two day useage on the 6 meter, 2 meter and 70 cm. bands as well as use as a scanner antenna, and I have not had any trouble with the elements breaking or falling off.
I do agree that the elements could be better made, but the rolled stock used for the longer elements resist bending better than bar stock would. If bent to the extreme, both types will break.
It all comes down to this: you get what you pay for. If you want a stronger discone antenna, pay the difference and get the antenna from Diamond or another antenna manufacturer. The Radio Shack model is good for the money. |
|
| YEPSURE |
Rating: |
2005-02-14 | |
| This IS a fragile antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Yeah, don't listen to those of us who have put our discone's on a pole, totally isolated from falling branches, hurricanes, tornado's or whatever, yet still had the cheap 45 degree radial's break despite just sitting all by itself up in the air!
Those posts that say this is not a fragile antenna simply have not experienced the failures the rest of us have. The radial's are hollow, which is a big manufacturing mistake. The radial's have a habit of breaking off where the threaded stub mates with the radial. The Shack does this apparently to save money, which is well and good, but the fact remains that this antenna is FRAGILE, period.
If you haven't experienced the breakage I've described then consider yourself lucky. However, the rest of us haven't been "rough" with our antenna's as it has been implied (although some have noted accidents with them). Barring these accidents the antenna is cheaply made, and although more expensive, your money would be better spent purchasing the Diamond or Icom version, which is made with better materials. Having had both the Radio Shack model and the Diamond version, I can say with experience there is a quality difference between the two.
If you choose not to listen to those who have had breakage issues then you subject yourself to a very skewed reflection of the true quality of this product. If people only listen to one side of any issue regardless of good or bad then your just fooling yourself, plain & simple. |
|
| N4KMA |
Rating: |
2005-02-14 | |
| Good Antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I have had mines for about 8 years or more. Never have had a problem with it. |
|
| N4VNV |
Rating: |
2005-02-14 | |
| OLD MODEL IS GREAT! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
To follow-up my first posting of Oct 2003. Now it's Feb 2005, my R/S Discone is STILL GREAT! The problem seems to be the newer models are not built as well as the older ones like mine. Put it together over ten years ago.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by N4VNV on 2003-10-22
I have the older model w/o six meter coverage on TX. It's been mounted in my attic for about 9 years. I've run 160 watts through it many, many times on 2M. It's never been a problem and does a better job than a 5/8 wave GP I had mounted outside. So, I love it! But come guys, putting up an o/s antenna without using a lock-tight type solution. You can't blame the antenna design for that. |
|
| K2KOH |
Rating: |
2005-02-05 | |
| Still going after four years.. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I can't say this antenna is fragile at all...this is my main antenna for my R7100, and it's been up for four years; four winters of nasty snowstorms, a couple of summers' worth of severe thunderstorms and one near tornado, and not one radial has broken off. |
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