Base station antenna

[Ant]

What's the best dual band base station antenna I could buy? It may be a bit of a vague question, but I know there are 2m 70cm antennas, but there's a few and wondering which one I should get, collinear or not or what....

Thanks.

[ch25]

Best would be directional one.
If we talk vertical: for receive only/transmit/input power lvl?
Chris

[Ant]

Omni-directional preferably as I'd want to TX/RX to as far and wide as I can.

[ch25]

Most of Diamond or similar verticals are deaf out of the band. Also not capable to handle power. I fried F23 and and X510 with 100W SSB.
Otherwise 510N is nice vertical for a start.

[Ant]

Deaf out of the band?

[Auldgeek]

Genuine Diamond verticals are probably the best, so long as they're installed correctly and you use decent feeder.

The X-510N or the X-700HN are the two high performance models but the X-700HN is 24' long and will whip about, so 70cm signals will definitely be subject to fade and flutter.

As Chris states, don't expect great performance out of band, as they are designed and tuned specifically for the amateur bands and will not work well if you venture too far either side.

[Ant]

Well, it's a dual band antenna, I don't expect to use it for anything else. I did mention in my post 2m and 70cm. But I'll take a look at the Diamond ones, thanks.

[MrWeetabix]

X510 perform well, though mine did develop a fault. They are also very heavy antennas. Performance wise they are the best dual band vertical I have used.

[paulears]

The performance specs for antennas are always a compromise. The best of them might for similar products offer maybe .5dB difference - so practically nothing you would notice, but then most of us compromise on the height and the cable loss. We agonise between brand X and brand Y antennas, but don't do the same with the cable, and we lose more in cable losses than we gain with the difference antennas. The dual band white stick types are so close for the same size that the things to consider would be the next size (and price bracket up), with a taller mounting. A 6m 50mm pole instead of the 2m one brings more of an improvement than the antennas swap. So the rule is the biggest and highest you can get, works the best. Your wallet works the opposite way.

[Ant]

I've an idea. I have a yagi tv aerial on the roof at the moment on the gable end. We don't even use it, so that can come down and a coelinear can go in its place. Then on another part of the roof I can have my scanner antenna up where I wanted it and possibly my CB antenna.

In the meantime, can anyone recommend/link me to where I can get one of those rigs for setting an antenna up on the lawn, like a temporary rig? I've seen some kits but they looked like telescopic antennas rather than retractable masts. Thanks.

[Ant]

When choosing one of these antennas, say the diamonds mentioned above, what are the key factors? The gain? I noticed the two mentioned above, the 510 and 700 are about 5 metres long. I was wondering if the X-50 would work for me, being a more discreet 1.7m long.

[Auldgeek]

When choosing one of these antennas, say the diamonds mentioned above, what are the key factors? The gain? I noticed the two mentioned above, the 510 and 700 are about 5 metres long. I was wondering if the X-50 would work for me, being a more discreet 1.7m long.

You asked what was the best, hence the 510 & 700.
If you can go to about 3m, I'd recommend the Diamond X300N.

Diamond are manufactured to a higher standard and should last longer and performance should be exactly as per published figures. There are many clones, some better than others, mostly inferior to original Diamonds.

The X50 is an ok antenna but it will not perform as well as the others. It depends what you're looking to do. Sitting on a local repeater or chatting to your mates 10 miles away will not require anything elaborate. The key to decent performance from any of these is height & free space.

[Ant]

When choosing one of these antennas, say the diamonds mentioned above, what are the key factors? The gain? I noticed the two mentioned above, the 510 and 700 are about 5 metres long. I was wondering if the X-50 would work for me, being a more discreet 1.7m long.

You asked what was the best, hence the 510 & 700.
If you can go to about 3m, I'd recommend the Diamond X300N.

Diamond are manufactured to a higher standard and should last longer and performance should be exactly as per published figures. There are many clones, some better than others, mostly inferior to original Diamonds.

The X50 is an ok antenna but it will not perform as well as the others. It depends what you're looking to do. Sitting on a local repeater or chatting to your mates 10 miles away will not require anything elaborate. The key to decent performance from any of these is height & free space.

When you say height, do you mean situation height of the antenna, rather than the height as in length?

Are the lengths of the antenna simply a result of what's necessary to give the db gain performance?

I can easily fix my antenna to be well above the roof top of my house. It can go on the gable end where the TV antenna was removed from.

One of the reasons for considering the X50 was that as I'll be above the roof, there are no radials on the X50 for the pigeons to sit on. Pigeons are a real problem around here, which is why that TV yagi came off, as all it did was give the pigeons somewhere to sit and crap down my landing window.

[Auldgeek]

When you say height, do you mean situation height of the antenna, rather than the height as in length?

Height would be height above ground & free space is clear of any obstacles such as buildings, other aerials & 1 wavelength away if possible.

Are the lengths of the antenna simply a result of what's necessary to give the db gain performance?

Yes, that's correct. If you look at the specs of the various antennas, you will see different wavelengths mentioned such as
3 x 5/8 etc. Internally, they are just a collection of coils & wire throughout their lengths, matched to present 50 ohms at the base. You will often hear these referred as collinears.

I can easily fix my antenna to be well above the roof top of my house. It can go on the gable end where the TV antenna was removed from.

One of the reasons for considering the X50 was that as I'll be above the roof, there are no radials on the X50 for the pigeons to sit on. Pigeons are a real problem around here, which is why that TV yagi came off, as all it did was give the pigeons somewhere to sit and crap down my landing window.

If it has no radials, I doubt it's a genuine Diamond.
Yes, bird crap is a downside to having horizontal elements on a yagi or vertical.
Regardless of antenna, choose the very best coax you can afford, as losses really start to mount up very quickly at these frequencies and it impacts both TX & RX. M&P Hyperflex or Ultraflex 10 would be my choice. Westflex 103 is decent enough but it's quite stiff.

[Ant]

Yes the X50 does have radials, for some reason I thought it didn't. Hopefully they're small enough to not be so attractive to the pigeons.