setup antenna / scanner question

[highflyr78]

hello,
i'm trying to setup a live ATC feed here in Edmonton where the control center is located. 

my house is 10 miles from the source antenna where the controllers are.  what is the best antenna to use?  the terrain is flat with only urban sprawl in the way. 

can anyone recommend a certain type of antenna that will mainly cover between 119.5 - 134.9 ?

thanks for any tips you may have,

[kiwisteve]

Possibly 1/4 wave groundplane or half wave dipole made for air band centre .
Another is a 5/8 wave whip antenna

I use a high gain 5metre tall  collinear as I'm 52Km from Control tower

I would avoid  so called ( Scanner Antennas )  they don't seem to work very well on the Air Band .

Steve

[dan9125]

Because you are only 10 miles from the transmitter a "Scantenna" will be all you need. I see them on e-bay :
 http://cgi.ebay.com/SCANNER-ANTENNA-NEW-SCANTENNA-ST-2-FREE-SHIPPING_W0QQitemZ180102389500QQihZ008QQcategoryZ40980QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

But you can get them from many on-line sights.

 Dan

[highflyr78]

thanks for the replies.

would a dipole or whip be anymore advantageous over a scantenna?

[kiwisteve]

Personally I prefer an antenna thats resonant for the frequency required . This tends to help with gain and performance and helps a little on rejection of unwanted out of band signals .
Scanner antennas I have tried seem to claim wide frequency range  but show poor gain on any of them .  But at the end of the day it depends on signal strength you have .
For me I need every bit I can get due to distance !!

Steve

[rinoltz]

Hello,

I am trying to get my feed setup here as well.  I am about 13 to 15 miles from KTVC (Cherry Capital Airport) and have had trouble with a radioshack dipole antenna on my roof.  Just not great to pick up the 118 - 136 from way out here.  However, I have just built my own J-pole antenna using plans and calculators from the internet and have done a preliminary test this afternoon.  WOW, what a difference.  I could not even get the ATIS before and now I can.  I can only imagine how much better it will be when I install it on the roof.  It was easy to build.  I cut the lengths using 127 Mhz so I could get somewhere in between. 

Brad

[kiwisteve]

Hi .  I use a Diamond X7000 Collinear antenna , its around 5metres long and mounted on a 20m high tower . Its made for the 144 to 148mhz   and 430 440   1200-1300 amateur radio freq.
But it seems to run very well on 134.5    the freq I use mainly 

glad the Jpole works well 

Steve

[tyketto]

Hello,

I am trying to get my feed setup here as well.  I am about 13 to 15 miles from KTVC (Cherry Capital Airport) and have had trouble with a radioshack dipole antenna on my roof.  Just not great to pick up the 118 - 136 from way out here.  However, I have just built my own J-pole antenna using plans and calculators from the internet and have done a preliminary test this afternoon.  WOW, what a difference.  I could not even get the ATIS before and now I can.  I can only imagine how much better it will be when I install it on the roof.  It was easy to build.  I cut the lengths using 127 Mhz so I could get somewhere in between. 

Brad

With a name like Brad, you're bound to get it perfect on the first try!  

Would you mind posting pics of this, and perhaps instructions when you get this totally working? I'm having similar issues, and I'm about 5 - 7 miles from NorCal TRACON and KMHR and the antenna I have isn't coming as clear as I'd like.

Keep up the good work!

BL.

[Sasquach]

A quarter wave ground plane antenna is easy to make for less than $5.  You'll need a soldering iron and solder too.
Shopping list:
11 ft of 12awg solid wire(not stranded)
SO239 connector (Radio Shack No. 278-201)

Cut the wire into equal lengths of 23 inches
Insert one wire into center of the SO239 connector and solder it into place.
Make a loop in the other four wires and loop them into the four holes in the SO239 connector
Solder the four wires in place perpendicular to the center conductor wire.
NOTE: This wil be about 70 Ohms.  Ideally you want 50 Ohms.  To get 50 Ohms you need to be at 135 deg from the center radial
Make a loop in the center conductor wire so you can hang it by string or rope. 

This is a great attic antenna and it works very well.  The 50 Ohm version is what I use for the KHSV feed.

Link to how to build it but use my wire lengths:
http://www.hamuniverse.com/2metergp.html

[Tomato]

It depends, for these situations where you're 10+ miles away, I'd definately recommend one of the other antennas.  If you're close by, a simple scanner antenna works... specifically the Maldol AL-500H is works really well for Air Band.  There are other posts/thread about this somewhere too... just do a search. 

I would avoid  so called ( Scanner Antennas )  they don't seem to work very well on the Air Band .

Steve

[kiwisteve]

Yes in my case where I'm 52 kilometres from the tower a simple  scanner antenna was near useless   a high gain vhf antenna fed with low loss Andrews Heliax was essential  esp with some higher ground in between