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Reviews For: Radio Shack Discone

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Radio Shack Discone
Reviews: 39MSRP: 59.99
Description:
Item # 20-043
Our best! Omnidirectional, rugged stainless steel construction, wide 25-1300MHz receive coverage. Also for transmitting on 50, 144, 220, 440, 900 and 1296MHz Ham bands. Resonator and tunable whip for best 50MHz performance. About 44" high, overall. Fits mast up to 1" in diameter. Accepts PL-259 connector.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.radioshack.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00393.9
KB3JSY Rating: 2004-03-18
update-> Strong Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is just something I forgot - do not listen to some of these posts about the discone being fragile- unless they mean a flat out tornado - my discone has been through "weather" hell and back and is as strong as when I put her up. I think some people are just not putting it together correctly which i'm guilty of also-at first- But just make sure you put the nuts all the way to the back of the thread on the radials-then screw thread in the base tight. Will last more than a decade,IMO.
KC9EIZ Rating: 2004-03-15
Problem Solved!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Discone for 8 + years now and over the years and several moves all the radials have broken / fallen off - the solution? Al Lowe N0IMW of Arrow Antenna (ArrowAntenna.com - 307 638-2369) made me 8 new radials from his stock of arrow aluminum shafts and Voila - problem solved at a price $2.00 cheaper than RadioShack and a much, much better radial. The radials are slightly shorter, but will last for many years beyond the RadioShack type. Like many of the other reviews, I like this antenna for its wide range and small footprint. If you have broken radials, try my solution, you won’t be disappointed!!

As an aside - there has been a price increase - the new price is for this antenna is $65.99, not the $59.99 listed above.
K4TBN Rating: 2004-02-23
cheaply built Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is one fragile antenna. I live on top of a mountain with near constant wind. The flexing of the radials causes separation from the hub in short order.
K2AF Rating: 2003-12-29
Great little antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two of these, one mounted in each attic peak (garage & house). They work great for scanning, 2m & 440m. I can't comment on the weather resistance of these since they're mounted inside but one is a few years old & the other I've had for just a few months, both went together just fine. I have also loaded up on 10m with this antenna (when my R7 fell over during a storm).
WK4RC Rating: 2003-10-22
Does what it should! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the older model, without 6M, and it has doen a great job mounted outside in WI wx. Used it for 2M comms and it did the job for simplex and repeater work for about a 70mile radius with 50w out. Was my antenna for the WIQP on VHF/UHF.
Did a good job as a receiving antenna for me with my scanner also.
Have no complaints and would buy one again if I needed to. Does what it should at a good price.
KA4KOE Rating: 2003-10-22
Mine is fine Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My antenna has been outside almost 2 years on a pole. Its holding up just fine, thank you.
K5UJ Rating: 2003-10-22
For what it is, it works reasonably well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had the Radio Shack 50 to 1300 MHz discone antenna up at the top of a 20 foot mast next to my house for 3 1/2 years including Chicago winter wx. I was looking for a general > 50 MHz rx and local tx antenna and it has been quite useful for me. I use it to get into local repeaters on 2 meters and 70 cm. and to work local 2 m. FM simplex for which I run up to 60 watts to it through an 8U type feedline. Mine does have a narrow resonance curve on 6 meters most likely due to the use of the loaded vertical whip on top for 6 but it does have a low (~1.2:1) swr near the bottom of 6 meters for me. It's important to adjust the length of the vertical before putting it up to get into the band.

Tuning up from the VHF region to the top of where my SWR analyzer can go (470 MHz) the antenna exhibits the expected discone broadbandedness with the swr curve cycling between unity and near 2:1. Of course for that the tradeoff is a lack of gain but there's never any free lunch when it comes to antennas.

I had one problem with the construction of mine. The first one I bought had the feedpoint unit machined so that the top vertical radiator went off at a slight angle. I took it back to Radio Shack and exchanged it for a good unit with no problem. The rest of the antenna's materials have been okay. The top radiating rods (disk) are solid. It would have been nice to have had solid rods on the bottom "cone" part but the hollow ones have held up in high winds here. In any event, since the rods are all simulating what would ideally be a solid disk and cone, the loss of one would not greatly affect performance.

If you are looking for a single multiband antenna for monitoring and local communications it's a nice antenna to have. Properly grounding it improves its performance quite a bit.
OBSERVER11 Rating: 2003-10-22
it is JUNK Time Owned: more than 12 months.
it is JUNK ON A POLE. Yes, the discone is a good receiving antenna, and it will allow you to transmit on it too, but the RS antenna is so poorly made that it will not withstand outdoor installation for very long.

The elements are press fit onto studs, a weak link here.

The "6meter" portion is so narrow band that you will never get the SWR below 2:1 (ok, I know, this IS acceptable). The 6 meter portion was an afterthought since the skirt is too short for real 6 meter use.

I ended up taking it down and rebuilding with better hardware.
WV2NY Rating: 2003-10-22
Need Work Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased this antenna. Their very simple to put together, one doesn't even need the directions. I got this antenna to use for 2/144/220 operations as well as double as an outdoor scanner antenna. While using it with 25 watts or less I received very good operating reports, but when I applied 50 watts to it, my reports went right down the tubes. This afternoon I went outside to get something from the garage and found one of the aerials lying on the ground after the windstorm from the night before. I must not have tightened one of the nuts very well, that's my fault. Next time I'll use locktight. Because of it's location it will be coming down next week and I'll be replacing it with something else before the winter winds start.

WV2NY
N9PEK Rating: 2003-09-15
Discone Skeptic Converted Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Let's be practical here. You have $60 in your wallet. You need a quick and easy antenna solution on the cheap. You need to cover two bands (or more). Your rig pumps out 75 watts on VHF. You operate MARS so broadband is essential. What options do your have?

Whether running my Icom V-8000 VHF, or my dual-band portables, the RS Discone provides performance equal to or better than the Cushcraft Ringo it replaced for repeater use. On VHF FM simplex, the meter reading from regular stations was down no more than 3-5dB from the Ringo. Under normal conditions, I routinely work a VHF repeater located 43 miles away with full quieting using 10 watts. This from a low-buck, multi-band, zero-gain antenna mounted on 20' of el cheapo mast, bracketed to the eve of the house. SWR on 2m and .70cm is under 1.4 across both VHF and UHF bands.

I gave it a 5 because it offers an oustanding value. Show me something with more bang for the buck, and I'll buy it. It's not a 13B2 boomer, nor does it pretend to be one. It is a multi-band, broadband, unity gain, economical antenna solution with minimal wind loading, a multitude of mounting options, and with 5 minutes and a cordless drill/driver, it's down and ready for field-day operations.

Yes, the hollow elements are less substantial than I'd like to see. Nevertheless, during the warranty period, a quick trip to RS down the street, and I come home with a whole new antenna. No shipping. No down-time. No hassles.

After a year of using discone number one, I purchased a second discone for project use. The first discone was holding up so well, I simply left it up and used the apex/feedpoint of the new discone for my project antenna. (Project is a discone variant without 6m coverage, but providing 3dB gain on VHF and unity gain on other bands.)

It is a miracle antenna? Not really. Does it deliver on it's promises? In spades! If you have the budget and mounting options for a collinear stick or a Yagi and rotator, by all means do it. If not, you could do a lot worse than Radio Shack's discone. Besides, if you don't like it, you can always return it for a refund. Such a deal!

Happy hamming.