WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Gday Wayne the Icom-AH7000 is an excellent discone and it does cost more than the diamond but you have to consider that you get 50 feet of good quality low loss cable and 2 N type connectors and i did run a comperision a few years ago and the diamnd was actually 3 metres and i was running Belden-9913 cable and it didnt match up at all and i use 3 of the Icom discones.

Regards Lino.

Hi Lino,

I picked up my AH-7000 second hand with no coax or connectors, but the antenna had never been used so it was virtually brand new and i already had and use Belden 9913 for the feedline.

I used to use a preamp and down here in the country you need all the help you can get as well as a high antenna, but on moving to Bunbury i am now too close to Mt Lennard and the high powered FM Radio and at Channel 3 & 5 TV Stations on the FM Band overload every radio i've had here except my present PCR1000 and a Standard AX-700 i had a while ago, the Uniden 9000XLT & AOR3000A could'nt cope at all with harmonics and images all over the place completely distroying the Aircraft Band and VHF down to 60 Mhz.

I don't use a preamp now just the discone as it is on VHF/UHF and switch on the Palstar Active Antenna Tuner when i'm on HF, i listen alot to Shortwave and the HF ICAO Aeronautical Frequencies on the PCR1000.

Steve the Icom-AH7000 is been round a lot longer than the DiamondD130 and if they come out from the same joint performance is not good at all on the diamond and by the way I use to work for Icom and i also spent a year with Icom in japan and i seen where they assemble there gear and antennas.I lived in a unit about a year ago and i didnt even and i was using a desktop discone with a grove preamp and i could hear aircraft up to 500 km away on the he ground on a full signal strength and the audio was clear as anything.

Regards Lino.

Lino wrote:I lived in a unit about a year ago and i didnt even and i was using a desktop discone with a grove preamp and i could hear aircraft up to 500 km away on the he ground on a full signal strength and the audio was clear as anything.

Regards Lino.

Your unit must of been about 1000 meters above sea level then to hear an aircraft on the ground 500 km away using a desktop discone on full signal strength ?

Here's my story - i once picked up a low powered handheld stuffed up inside a metal drain pipe on the northern side of a house in geraldton from bunbury with no inversion on simplex...

oh and i was listening on a dummy load...

The area that i lived when i was renting the unit was actually flat with plenty of power lines all around me and i have heard aircraft so many times on the flight watch watch frequency from Alice springs,Mount Gambier,Bathurst and i hear these signals so often on my Rfi-Grouplanes
antennas which the civil aviation in Australia use in Airports and plenty of other countries use these antennas.

Regards Lino.

What frequency or frequencies do you hear all these aircraft on so often ?

These are the frequencies.

Flight Watch 1:124-950

Flight Watch 2:128.550

Regards Lino.

Neither frequencies are listed on the ACMA Database for use in WA ?

Flightwatch in Perth can be heard on 120.7

There are lots of frequencies used in Perth just not the ones that Lino offered i assumed for Perth or WA for that matter unless the ACMA Database is wrong ?

I have'nt monitored those frequencies as yet to see if there is any air or ground traffic on them or to confirm any unusual reception distance of 500 klms or so for the ground traffic.

Lino, where are you located?

My location is Cranbourne East Victoria.

RegardsLino.

Then your posting of VHF Frequencies have little relevance to us here on a WA Radio Scanner User Group.

I can listen with no antenna to 124.9 and hear aircraft 500 klms away as well as they are going through the local satellite relay feed about 15 kms from me on a hill that enables aircraft in a 600 klm radius in the SouthWest to talk with Melbourne Centre.

Your picking up one of those Australia Airservices satellite feed relay stations on the frequencies you posted.

So you're actually picking up ground stations that are relaying the transmissions. They're located at Mt Macedon (124.95) and Mildura (128.55) - how far away from you are these two locations? I had a look at a map and it still looks like pretty good performance from your antennas.

Steve,

124.9 here in Bunbury (Roelands) only has a output power of 7 watts, the 128.55 also has a power output of 7 watts but the Mt Macedon site has 50 watts which would give it a far superior coverage radius.