I got my first discone back in the 1970's ( distributed by TANDY, that's how old it was ), it was a gift from an old operator I knew. They are GREAT on a scanner, but only a fool would try to transmit on one, NONE of it's claimed usable bandwidth had an SWR below 3:1 and the average was around 8:1. Even the crap antenna on your $30 HT will get better performance on TX than a commercial discone will. You CAN build one for TX, but they are considerably larger than this unit, even on 2m. There is a calculator online for discones, and the 2m version has a hat diameter of 1.9m and the fan is almost 3m diameter at the bottom, more than 3 times the size of this TRAM unit. But for an RX antenna for VHF and UHF and right up into microwave, there's LITTLE that comes close, especially for local use. And with the bandwidth they can receive, it's hard to not like them.
I have the MFJ version I bought years ago for use in a scanner. It worked ok for that, but I never put a meter on it to check it. However, when I moved here I hastily put it back up for use with my 2 meter radio and it didn't work so well, in fact a cheap MFJ quarter wave ground plane worked a lot better. Now I know why. One of these days I should put it back up and put the NanoVNA on it and check it. Thanks for the video!
Bob - go look on HRCC. Josh has a video he did with a different model discone, for scanner/SDR use. I think I bought a pig, w/o even lipstick. I have an older discone that works great as a scanner antenna on the house. This was for the shop.
Jim, I'm surprised at how poorly it scans. I have a diamond brand and I just scanned it again (comet CA-500) and from 110 MHz up to 450, it's consistently below 1.5:1. I use it quite frequently on 2m and 70cm and it does very well on simplex and 2m SSB.
I was stunned. It's mounted on a chain link top-rail mast, stuck in a bucket 'o concrete. After yesterdays storm, it is not ground referenced, so it may or not be completely FUBAR. If it salvagable, I want to hook up a ground rod to the mast, and tie to copper rod, see if that changes anything. FWIW - I have an old (25+ years) discone that i've been using as a scanner antenna since the first Clinton presidency, and it seems to work great. I'll be posting a video very soon, with the same data from the Rigexpert to compare to the Tram. The old one (I have ZERO idea what model/brand) has been mounted, w/o maintenance of any kind for years.
Yeah, I'm going to give that a shot. This is not my first discone, but so far, it is the worst. Sad thing is, there's not a ton of technology in how they're made.
i think you ask what super scanner it was three element beam that did not need a rotor, it electric switching for the direction it had a box for switching some would say it was not a beam others would say it was not a beam, I saw one on u-tube was converting it ten meter. it made my mou th water, if you did ask. just ignore
@@FEPLabsRadio Thanks. I got this on order to add on to optional various verticals I have to help widen the coverage a bit. We'll see how it goes. Should be fun testing at least. Cheers and 73.
Right. SUpposedly, the vertical element bumps up the lower end, at the expense of the higher end. This particular one does not have the vertical element. I have an old one that does
It's probably a bad antenna connector or its install on the coax. You get that high SWR at lower frequencies but at higher the coax will work more as a dummy load and not show high SWR when the attenuation are too high in the coax and the SWR will be eaten up. Could be water intrusion in the coax that makes this happen. I've seen those waves happen with a damaged coax or connector at the antenna end. It's impossible for any kind of discone antenna to show those high SWRs as it is a simple mechanical design. Keep in mind that a full range discone will receive 800MHz signals and higher that will be some 10dB worse compared to a simple 1/4 wave whip. Discones work great from 100MHz to 500MHz but higher in frequency you'll need a discone of half the size to properly cover 200-900MHz, or use a diplexer and have two antennas, one for each band.
I've got one of these antennas and it's terrible even as an RX only antenna. So the real question is can we fix it? Can we modify it into a decent broadband antenna? The theory of a discone is simple enough, where did they go wrong with this antenna?
@@FEPLabsRadio I'm wondering if its something like the wrong dielectric material or spacing used in the connector/insulator. In theory discones are pretty damn simple. I need to get mine down and tear it apart. It's pretty useless as is.
I would send that thing back if the SWR is that bad..That will even kill most of your receive ! But It Could Also Be Bad Coax ..But That Is Un Usable ! I am Glad I Found This Video Now I Know Not To Buy That Antenna...Thanks
Yeah, it floored me. The cable is good, I tested another discone, and it worked perfect, same coax, setup, etc. I don't know how bad it has to be, discones are pretty simple, unless the elements are just the wrong length or something.
I would have said same difference, but after comparing the Tram to the Diamond, I don't know, it may be. A discone is pretty simple (like most antennas), it doesn't have much in the way of complex parts. I was amazed.
back then i bought mine for for dollars, it cost the for transmit element ten bucks for a little piece of wire I had just got my tech for two meter. i only lived two blocks from the repeater
Super wide banded. Actually, the design is pretty solid. They're really oriented more towards RX, but they will TX as well. I think I just got a junker. I have an old one that you will see in an upcoming video (Today/tomorrow sometime) as a comparison.
A properly designed and built discone is a fine antenna. It is very broadband and is just as efficient as any vertical. I have a similar discone antenna and it has a quite good SWR on 2m. There is something wrong with the one shown in the video, or maybe in his coax or connectors.
I got my first discone back in the 1970's ( distributed by TANDY, that's how old it was ), it was a gift from an old operator I knew. They are GREAT on a scanner, but only a fool would try to transmit on one, NONE of it's claimed usable bandwidth had an SWR below 3:1 and the average was around 8:1. Even the crap antenna on your $30 HT will get better performance on TX than a commercial discone will. You CAN build one for TX, but they are considerably larger than this unit, even on 2m. There is a calculator online for discones, and the 2m version has a hat diameter of 1.9m and the fan is almost 3m diameter at the bottom, more than 3 times the size of this TRAM unit. But for an RX antenna for VHF and UHF and right up into microwave, there's LITTLE that comes close, especially for local use. And with the bandwidth they can receive, it's hard to not like them.
I have the MFJ version I bought years ago for use in a scanner. It worked ok for that, but I never put a meter on it to check it. However, when I moved here I hastily put it back up for use with my 2 meter radio and it didn't work so well, in fact a cheap MFJ quarter wave ground plane worked a lot better. Now I know why. One of these days I should put it back up and put the NanoVNA on it and check it.
Thanks for the video!
Well now my discone curiosity is satisfied; I've been wondering about this for my SDS-100. Thanks Jim.
Bob - go look on HRCC. Josh has a video he did with a different model discone, for scanner/SDR use. I think I bought a pig, w/o even lipstick. I have an older discone that works great as a scanner antenna on the house. This was for the shop.
that oscillation is the coax ringing i'd say that coax is bad or the length needs adjustment it could screw up the swr sweep readings
Used the same coax on the Diamond discone, and it reads perfectly. There is evil in that Tram antenna. At least the one I have.
I just assembled the tram 1411 antenna and two meter and 70 cm and CB came in below. 1.5 SWR on my rig expert
Jim, I'm surprised at how poorly it scans. I have a diamond brand and I just scanned it again (comet CA-500) and from 110 MHz up to 450, it's consistently below 1.5:1. I use it quite frequently on 2m and 70cm and it does very well on simplex and 2m SSB.
I was stunned. It's mounted on a chain link top-rail mast, stuck in a bucket 'o concrete. After yesterdays storm, it is not ground referenced, so it may or not be completely FUBAR. If it salvagable, I want to hook up a ground rod to the mast, and tie to copper rod, see if that changes anything. FWIW - I have an old (25+ years) discone that i've been using as a scanner antenna since the first Clinton presidency, and it seems to work great. I'll be posting a video very soon, with the same data from the Rigexpert to compare to the Tram. The old one (I have ZERO idea what model/brand) has been mounted, w/o maintenance of any kind for years.
yes, same here. I also have a diamond. Swr below 1.5 acros the whole spectrum.
I wonder if you adjust the ground radials if it would bring in 2 and 70
Yeah, I'm going to give that a shot. This is not my first discone, but so far, it is the worst. Sad thing is, there's not a ton of technology in how they're made.
@@FEPLabsRadio so this is the mfj od discones? 🤣
@@ubergeek318 Maybe the Baofeng...
@@FEPLabsRadio 🤣🤣
Jim, this is Fred in Tallassee, hope to hear you soon on Montgomery repeater ! 73's.
Hi Fred! I usually never make it on the local repeaters, I should drop by more often. Which one, 840?
I use mine with my SDRs. Works great.
Good to hear. I think I may just have gotten a sketchy one.
i think you ask what super scanner it was three element beam that did not need a rotor, it electric switching for the direction it had a box for switching some would say it was not a beam others would say it was not a beam, I saw one on u-tube was converting it ten meter. it made my mou th water, if you did ask. just ignore
That's pretty strange James!
Can the top bolt be replaced with a vertical element? Thanks for the video.
I think so - my original 30yr old disco has a 2m element on top.
@@FEPLabsRadio Thanks. I got this on order to add on to optional various verticals I have to help widen the coverage a bit. We'll see how it goes. Should be fun testing at least. Cheers and 73.
Diamond Antenna 130JN has a top element
I have always found discones that do not have a vertical. Have had poor performance for me. 😊
Right. SUpposedly, the vertical element bumps up the lower end, at the expense of the higher end. This particular one does not have the vertical element. I have an old one that does
Are you sure the 1410 is supposed to transmit? I know the 1411 is
It's probably a bad antenna connector or its install on the coax. You get that high SWR at lower frequencies but at higher the coax will work more as a dummy load and not show high SWR when the attenuation are too high in the coax and the SWR will be eaten up. Could be water intrusion in the coax that makes this happen. I've seen those waves happen with a damaged coax or connector at the antenna end. It's impossible for any kind of discone antenna to show those high SWRs as it is a simple mechanical design. Keep in mind that a full range discone will receive 800MHz signals and higher that will be some 10dB worse compared to a simple 1/4 wave whip. Discones work great from 100MHz to 500MHz but higher in frequency you'll need a discone of half the size to properly cover 200-900MHz, or use a diplexer and have two antennas, one for each band.
I thought of that. Diamond antenna is just fine on the same exact coax run. Nothing else was changed. Something in that antenna is jank-tastic.
Best Antenna for 144,222,440,902,1200 Transmit, Perfect for the Icom 905,
This is Antenna Made for Police scanner @FEPLads Radio?
Yes, it is not band-specific, it has a range of like 30Mhz-1300Mhz (ish). I use it for monitoring 800Mhz P25, but it also covers VHF and UHF
@@FEPLabsRadio Ok 👍
Saved me from considering buying this antenna! Thanks!
They make good scanner antennas, but not so good. For transmitting. I’ve used one for a scanner for years.
it looked new.
I've got one of these antennas and it's terrible even as an RX only antenna. So the real question is can we fix it? Can we modify it into a decent broadband antenna? The theory of a discone is simple enough, where did they go wrong with this antenna?
I don't know - I looked at it, tried to see if it had a short or something. I can only assume the element lengths are out of whack.
@@FEPLabsRadio I'm wondering if its something like the wrong dielectric material or spacing used in the connector/insulator. In theory discones are pretty damn simple.
I need to get mine down and tear it apart. It's pretty useless as is.
I would send that thing back if the SWR is that bad..That will even kill most of your receive ! But It Could Also Be Bad Coax ..But That Is Un Usable ! I am Glad I Found This Video Now I Know Not To Buy That Antenna...Thanks
Yeah, it floored me. The cable is good, I tested another discone, and it worked perfect, same coax, setup, etc. I don't know how bad it has to be, discones are pretty simple, unless the elements are just the wrong length or something.
it is great two meter. but m f j is much better
I would have said same difference, but after comparing the Tram to the Diamond, I don't know, it may be. A discone is pretty simple (like most antennas), it doesn't have much in the way of complex parts. I was amazed.
back then i bought mine for for dollars, it cost the for transmit element ten bucks for a little piece of wire I had just got my tech for two meter. i only lived two blocks from the repeater
With no more gain than a dipole, less in fact over real ground, why put up with those monstrosities?
Super wide banded. Actually, the design is pretty solid. They're really oriented more towards RX, but they will TX as well. I think I just got a junker. I have an old one that you will see in an upcoming video (Today/tomorrow sometime) as a comparison.
A properly designed and built discone is a fine antenna. It is very broadband and is just as efficient as any vertical. I have a similar discone antenna and it has a quite good SWR on 2m. There is something wrong with the one shown in the video, or maybe in his coax or connectors.
That thing sucks