WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

UHF/VHF aerial, or where to buy or how to make one..

More info please. What do you want it for, what frequencies are you wanting to listen to? How much do you want to pay.

With such a limited description, for all we know, you might be looking for a VHF/UHF TV antenna.

Bonez wrote:More info please. What do you want it for, what frequencies are you wanting to listen to? How much do you want to pay.

With such a limited description, for all we know, you might be looking for a VHF/UHF TV antenna.

Fair question,,, to listen to aviation freqencys, pay.little as possible

If you want something quick and easy, go for a 2M amateur antenna. There's plenty around. They are designed to work between 144-148mhz but should work pretty well on airband RX as well.

jasonjag wrote:Fair question,,, to listen to aviation freqencys, pay.little as possible

If you want to receive VHF and UHF then you will need one wide-band antenna or multiple tuned antennae for best results. A discone is a useful wideband for scanners but they aren't cheap and not easy to make.

I made a vertical groundplane tuned for the middle of air VHF and it works well. Cost me about $15 in parts for the antenna bits and connector (then you need the feed cable and a mast...) I got fairly poor results before it went up on a 12m mast in Swanbourne. That could be the location though (There might be a small black hole near there from my experience) I have it down at the moment if you want pics. It has a vertical element and a three radial groundplane all made from 2.5mm brazing rods. Copper would be better but it's too soft (and pricey). The good thing about brazing rods is that they stay straight and can support their own weight out to about a metre depending on their thickness. Mine is soldered but you could probably get around that.

A full sized VHF TV antenna also works, but they are directional and tend to point towards the hills if already connected to a TV. (Air band is between TV ch 5 and 5a). Omnidirectional would be better.

Even a cheapie telescopic TV rabbit ears from Dick Smith is better than the rubber ducky you get with scanners. I'm using that at home for air I pulled out the balun. It works better without. It's currently hanging over the thingo above the vertical blinds as far away from computers as possible.

And like Bonez said, 2m amateur is just above the air band

(Edit)

Looks a lot like the last two pictures at this site except 3 radials and all soldered -> http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/5003/twig.htm

robbage wrote: It's currently hanging over the thingo above the vertical blinds

Us Aussies love using technical slang If you plug the whatchya ma call it into the thingy madoobly and hang it over the thingo above the thingy ma jig.

Tyranus wrote:

robbage wrote: It's currently hanging over the thingo above the vertical blinds

Us Aussies love using technical slang :P If you plug the whatchya ma call it into the thingy madoobly and hang it over the thingo above the thingy ma jig. :D

u so bluddy rite. ive been given a description from an AC mob to use RG58 coax and a aerial cut to 56 Cm in length, ....

jasonjag wrote:u so bluddy rite. ive been given a description from an AC mob to use RG58 coax and a aerial cut to 56 Cm in length, ....

RG58 is 50 ohm coax to suit a 50 ohm antenna. Close enough for vertical or dipole. A 1/4 wave at air VHF centre is 61.2 cm according to my calculator. Minus about 3% if you want to match 50 ohms a bit closer = 59 cm. Two of those for a dipole or one for a vertical plus some radials the same length, drooping to 45°. Depends how picky you want to be. It's receive-only after all. Most air stuff worth listening to seems to be at the higher end of the band, so going a bit shorter won't hurt. Elevation will help. Staying away from computers and other noisy devices will help.

I use these custom antennas for Airband only from 2 australian companies
POLAR-214A Dipole/RFI-GP3 groundplane and these antennas are what the civil aviation authorities use in australia & other countries around the world and they dont need to be high due to the gain they have and i live about 80 km from melbourne international and i can hear ground controllers give clearances to aircraft and thsese antennas are very well constructed.I also use 3 ICOM-AH7000 Discones and the performance on the airbands is excellent and other bands outside that range.

Regards Lino.
ALINCO-DJX2000
2 AOR-3000A/AOR-8200MK3
ETON-E5 HF PORTABLE
GRE-PSR500
ICOM-R3/ICOM-R5/ICOM-R20/ICOM-PCR1000/ICOM-PCR1500/ICOM-R2500/ICOM-R9000/ICOM-R9500/ICOM-92AD D-STAR
JRC NRD-545
RADIO SHACK-PRO97
REALISTIC-PRO2035
UNIDEN-245/UNIDEN-396/UNIDEN-780/UNIDEN-996
YAESU-VX7R/YAESU-FT8800R/YAESU-VR500/YAESU-VR5000