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Super Scanner Antenna
- Thread starter RoadRanger
- Start date
$300.00 too much! People ask insane prices for them. I saw one sell for $1500.00 on ebay NIB!!!!! I think i gave $50.00 for each of mine...
Not enough of one for me to pay that much. When the baby boomers all die off the stuff wont be worth much of anything.
Correct , and effective although the extra cost in coax.
1,500 Watts ? I seriously doubt it. A consistent 320 Watts took out my relays and caused replacement with overkill relays.
The forward gain wasn't anything special . The back door was very effective. The first time I talked to one he put me on "ignore" and dropped 7 S units.
The first time I used one I was impressed by the "notch" and really didn't see any forward gain.
Omni was omni.
My issue was the antenna really needed to be up a bunch higher. There lies the issue. It needed regular maintenance and repair to be all that it could be. It was not a set and forget deal. The higher you put it up the bigger the hassle getting it back down to service.
Even after the overkill relays there were still the mechanical and electrical connections to deal with.
Finally my location was unique. I had a natural back door of a mountain to the SE , my high omni could "see" from SW to N/NE , The broadside array pointed NW where the bulk of my traffic was.
I really didn't have use for the SS. It served duty as a near in city roof top mounted base station for 20 years plus. The replacement relays held up longer than the metal connections and the plastic parts finally returned to their natural elements.
So if you have an installation that allows you easy access, you need a "back door" , can deal with power limitations or replace the relays, and accept only slightly less omni performance, then it's worth the effort.
The added complications of a PDL2 are about a wash with the functionality of the SS with the exception of omni operation,
A good Sigma, Ringo, Loaded 5/8th's, stacked 1/2's (who has the room for that?) well up in the air is the optimum for ease and gain.
Past the omni's there is only one way up, tower, rotor, and multi element beam.
I don't think I have to go into the cost, weight, problems, feasibility of this option. I'll just say that the best of everything goes into it and if you have to ask, you can't afford it .
http://w8ji.com/windom_off_center_fed.htm
http://www.kn9b.us/guanella-balun
Bit of overkill at 2 1/4" cores and 12ga house wire but should be good to 5KZ...
Better than ...
Pretty much before and after photos .
I messed up the core material and the number of turns a bit and without tuner the OCFD is about useless. It does have some redeeming qualities. Notches in all but 20m voice where the tuner can be bypassed. A notch at 27.38 and 28.5. A bit of a notch in 6m simplex and depending on height and weather a little bit of 2m simplex.
I can reach nearly everything else via a Drake MN2700B tuner.
The bad?
Unpredictable antenna patterns above 40m. Gets lost and heats up coax on 15m. Height above 75ft would be better served by a 6:1 balun instead of the 4:1 .
Furry tree rats eating my paracord.
I went to the bother of displaying my antenna just to make sure those of you that purchase and install manufactured antennas know there are other ways .
Oh, nearly forgot to mention, Total cost including coax was less than $120.
Insulators, hardware, "J" box, cores, wire, paracord, pulleys, connector, included !
have fun !