Hello,

I'm new to this group, and don't know if this question would be outside
its scope in a way, so bear with me. If I wanted to put a discone
antenna on my house to use with a scanner, how would I mount it? I've
done a little reading on antennas and all, and the discone sounds
interesting, but I wouldn't have a clue on how to put it up. Does anyone
perhaps have a good Web link for that? Or maybe the name of a good book
I could get from the library?

Thank you in advance,
Jeff

stick a pole up it's bum
strap that to the chimney or vertical somewhere
the coax comes out the bottom of the pole.
run it through a window frame eves or WHY
to your scanner.

might be an idea to put a little rubberweld tape around the connector
outside also.

mike

"Unigamer" wrote in message
ink.net...
Hello,

I'm new to this group, and don't know if this question would be outside
its scope in a way, so bear with me. If I wanted to put a discone
antenna on my house to use with a scanner, how would I mount it? I've
done a little reading on antennas and all, and the discone sounds
interesting, but I wouldn't have a clue on how to put it up. Does anyone
perhaps have a good Web link for that? Or maybe the name of a good book
I could get from the library?

Thank you in advance,
Jeff


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Jeff,

Most discones [mine is the Diamond] come with 2 "U" bolts in the
mounting kit that can be clamped around an outdoor television antenna
mast. If you are planning on an outdoor/roof mount and do not have an
antenna mast, here is my suggestion.

Look in your phone book for a company that sells chain-link fencing or
just go to Home Depot, if there is one in your town. I joined two,
10'lengths of fence mast together and then got two electrical conduit
clamps that fit the diameter of the pipe [from Home Depot] and fastened
them to the patio overhang.

Since we get some 70+ MPH winds here, I've had to guy wire the masts to
the patio roof so the antenna doesn't fly away! All you need now is to
get some 9913 coax cable, run it to your scanner and you're in business.

If you are planning to mount the discone in your attic [because of an
HOA problem] someone here will give more details on that type of install.

All The Best!

Alain...Palomar Mountain [where the 200" Hale telescope is]

Alain,

Thank you very much for the advice. This was just what I was looking
for, as I don't have a mast yet and have never mounted an outdoor
antenna before. I probably won't be doing this for a while, I need to
take care of business (school, etc.) and make sure I'm solidly back into
the scanning hobby before I spend the money and do the work.

I bought a telescoping (center loaded) antenna today for my handheld,
and it seems to help on some normally "wavery"/"iffy" freqs., although
I'm not expecting miracles out of a handheld antenna. LOL I thought it
really sucked at first, until I read the directions... and found out
that it's best to extend it to different lengths/with different sections
depending on the band you're listening to... guess like most things, it
works better after reading the directions.

Just wondering... are you a ham? I heard a ham on either 2-meter or
440Mhz that noted Palomar Mt. or whatever it is (via linked repeaters in
the WIN system). I know it's unlikely, but I guess it's worth asking.

Thank you,
Jeff

A.Pismo Clam wrote:
Jeff,

Most discones [mine is the Diamond] come with 2 "U" bolts in the
mounting kit that can be clamped around an outdoor television antenna
mast. If you are planning on an outdoor/roof mount and do not have an
antenna mast, here is my suggestion.

Look in your phone book for a company that sells chain-link fencing or
just go to Home Depot, if there is one in your town. I joined two,
10'lengths of fence mast together and then got two electrical conduit
clamps that fit the diameter of the pipe [from Home Depot] and fastened
them to the patio overhang.

Since we get some 70+ MPH winds here, I've had to guy wire the masts to
the patio roof so the antenna doesn't fly away! All you need now is to
get some 9913 coax cable, run it to your scanner and you're in business.

If you are planning to mount the discone in your attic [because of an
HOA problem] someone here will give more details on that type of install.

All The Best!

Alain...Palomar Mountain [where the 200" Hale telescope is]

No Jeff, I'm not a ham but I have several friends who are. I have found
them to be the most helpful electronic guys I have ever met. I needed
some help installing a Willco board in my ICOM R 71-A sw radio. I looked
up several "callsigns" in my area who held the "advanced" license. I
called this one guy up and he said, "Yeah, bring the rig over." Long
story short, he installed the unit [back in 1992] and it's still working
great.

If you bought that "center loaded" telescoping antenna at Radio Shack,
it is the same one that I have on my Pro-95. It is a great antenna and
it does dramatically increase the range of the scanner. I can hear all
of the CHP freq's accept a few in LA. I can hear Bakersfield, but don't
get Buttonwillow until summer and the propagation is better.

Alain

Unigamer wrote:
Alain,

Thank you very much for the advice. This was just what I was looking
for, as I don't have a mast yet and have never mounted an outdoor
antenna before. I probably won't be doing this for a while, I need to
take care of business (school, etc.) and make sure I'm solidly back into
the scanning hobby before I spend the money and do the work.

I bought a telescoping (center loaded) antenna today for my handheld,
and it seems to help on some normally "wavery"/"iffy" freqs., although
I'm not expecting miracles out of a handheld antenna. LOL I thought it
really sucked at first, until I read the directions... and found out
that it's best to extend it to different lengths/with different sections
depending on the band you're listening to... guess like most things, it
works better after reading the directions.

Just wondering... are you a ham? I heard a ham on either 2-meter or
440Mhz that noted Palomar Mt. or whatever it is (via linked repeaters in
the WIN system). I know it's unlikely, but I guess it's worth asking.

Thank you,
Jeff

A.Pismo Clam wrote:

Jeff,

Most discones [mine is the Diamond] come with 2 "U" bolts in the
mounting kit that can be clamped around an outdoor television antenna
mast. If you are planning on an outdoor/roof mount and do not have an
antenna mast, here is my suggestion.

Look in your phone book for a company that sells chain-link fencing or
just go to Home Depot, if there is one in your town. I joined two,
10'lengths of fence mast together and then got two electrical conduit
clamps that fit the diameter of the pipe [from Home Depot] and
fastened them to the patio overhang.

Since we get some 70+ MPH winds here, I've had to guy wire the masts
to the patio roof so the antenna doesn't fly away! All you need now is
to get some 9913 coax cable, run it to your scanner and you're in
business.

If you are planning to mount the discone in your attic [because of an
HOA problem] someone here will give more details on that type of install.

All The Best!

Alain...Palomar Mountain [where the 200" Hale telescope is]

--
MZ�

Alain,

Yeah, the Radio Shack center-loaded telescoping was the one I got, and
I'll have to agree with you that it's pretty good - and the price was
one of the best points! LOL for $15USD, one has little to lose. There's
only two things I don't like about it 1.) I've read in a lot of places
that it's very hard on antenna jacks - and while I'm not too worried
because the scanner I have is pretty solid, I do have to be careful,
and 2.) An increased sensitivity to what you want to hear, is also an
increased sensitivity to garbage... you gotta love having a TV channel
drift in when no one's talking... My scanner's a cheap one thou
(although it works fine, it's the Radio Shack Pro-89, it was a gift),
if I can get together some money I'm going to get something like the
Pro-95, with the trunktracking, PL, computer programming, etc... (don't
need digital here in Vegas AFAIK).

Just wondering... if money were no object, would it be best (most
optimal) to have a desktop scanner at home hooked up to that discone we
were talking about, or would a good handheld jacked into it do the
trick?

Hmm, I just got an idea... the Pro-95 costs about the same as that MP3
player I wanted for Christmas, and I already have an older MP3
player... maybe I could talk my folks into getting me the Pro-95
instead? *smug look on his face*

Jeff

Alain,

Yeah, the Radio Shack center-loaded telescoping was the one I got, and
I'll have to agree with you that it's pretty good - and the price was
one of the best points! LOL for $15USD, one has little to lose. There's
only two things I don't like about it 1.) I've read in a lot of places
that it's very hard on antenna jacks - and while I'm not too worried
because the scanner I have is pretty solid, I do have to be careful,
and 2.) An increased sensitivity to what you want to hear, is also an
increased sensitivity to garbage... you gotta love having a TV channel
drift in when no one's talking... My scanner's a cheap one thou
(although it works fine, it's the Radio Shack Pro-89, it was a gift),
if I can get together some money I'm going to get something like the
Pro-95, with the trunktracking, PL, computer programming, etc... (don't
need digital here in Vegas AFAIK).

Just wondering... if money were no object, would it be best (most
optimal) to have a desktop scanner at home hooked up to that discone we
were talking about, or would a good handheld jacked into it do the
trick?

Hmm, I just got an idea... the Pro-95 costs about the same as that MP3
player I wanted for Christmas, and I already have an older MP3
player... maybe I could talk my folks into getting me the Pro-95
instead? *smug look on his face*

Jeff

My folks talked me out of forgoing the MP3 player for the new scanner...
after all, most of what I listen to is stuff like ham radio. They have a
point - and who knows, I may not stick with scanning forever... lol

Just wondering... could an antenna be temporarily mounted outside a
window on the glass (like a vehicular antenna, but on a house)? What
would be the effect of that? It'd be a lot cheaper and less "committal"
than mounting a big ol' discone right away...

Jeff

wrote:
Alain,

Yeah, the Radio Shack center-loaded telescoping was the one I got, and
I'll have to agree with you that it's pretty good - and the price was
one of the best points! LOL for $15USD, one has little to lose. There's
only two things I don't like about it 1.) I've read in a lot of places
that it's very hard on antenna jacks - and while I'm not too worried
because the scanner I have is pretty solid, I do have to be careful,
and 2.) An increased sensitivity to what you want to hear, is also an
increased sensitivity to garbage... you gotta love having a TV channel
drift in when no one's talking... My scanner's a cheap one thou
(although it works fine, it's the Radio Shack Pro-89, it was a gift),
if I can get together some money I'm going to get something like the
Pro-95, with the trunktracking, PL, computer programming, etc... (don't
need digital here in Vegas AFAIK).

Just wondering... if money were no object, would it be best (most
optimal) to have a desktop scanner at home hooked up to that discone we
were talking about, or would a good handheld jacked into it do the
trick?

Hmm, I just got an idea... the Pro-95 costs about the same as that MP3
player I wanted for Christmas, and I already have an older MP3
player... maybe I could talk my folks into getting me the Pro-95
instead? *smug look on his face*

Jeff