Antenna Advice

[Deepquest]

Hi all

HAve just recieved my new Baofeng UV-5R 4th Gen and as expected, can’t pick up a thing on any frequency. Have programmed most popular frequencies, including my local repeater using chirp but still nothing.

I realise the stock ariel is limited plus im about 20 miles from the nearest repeater, that and a rural location too.

I was wondering if anyone has experience or advice on a a good fixed external antanna for the house. I also have an old scanner radiochack pro-2045 which would benefit from an external antenna.

I would rather get something appropriate now, which will allow me to recieve and transmit (when foundadtion licence is obtained) than get one that will need replacing at a later date due to not being good enough.

If i get a decent amount of traffic from the new antenna, i would then seriously upgrading to a more substantial base station etc as the licence progresses.

Hope this makes sense, there is just a mountain of product out there and unsure where to start. IM looking mainly at the more popular bands in the main.

Thanks for any advice in this area.

Cheers

[Wingfoot]

If you want an antenna outside your best to mount some type of vertical colinear, like the Diamond X series, there are a number to choose from & there are many coppies made by other companies, tbe X30 or X50 will work well with the Baofeng & will give a low SWR on both the 2m & 70cm bands that the radio works on. Use good quality coax like RG213 to keep losses to a minimum, mount it as high as you can for maximum range.

Wf

[Deepquest]

Thanks Wingfoot

I have taken a quick look and the prices seem quite reasonable. DO you know if I would be able to use a splitter on this to allow the scanner to use the same setup?

Appreciate the advice once again

Thanks

[Briggs 2.0]

As Wingfoot recommended, I have also had a good experience with Diamond antennae. My X50 was loft-mounted and still performed well.

[Deepquest]

Thanks Briggs, you just answered my next question. I have seen many on web mounting in the Attic and I was going to do that initially. I realise hight is might as it goes buyt I am in quite an elevated location however I have the black mountain range in front and another range behind me. I’m not sure how much difference an extra 3m will gain.

Also, is there a limit to the length of coax which can be used, ie resistance changes depending on cable run etc. The reason im asking is that I have a long garden which slopes upward, the top being close to the facia hight on the house. It may be easier to gain the same elevation as off the chimney but with less hassle installing. It will also be more covert.

Thanks again for the help and support

[Briggs 2.0]

Thanks Briggs, you just answered my next question. I have seen many on web mounting in the Attic and I was going to do that initially. I realise hight is might as it goes buyt I am in quite an elevated location however I have the black mountain range in front and another range behind me. I’m not sure how much difference an extra 3m will gain.

Also, is there a limit to the length of coax which can be used, ie resistance changes depending on cable run etc. The reason im asking is that I have a long garden which slopes upward, the top being close to the facia hight on the house. It may be easier to gain the same elevation as off the chimney but with less hassle installing. It will also be more covert.

Thanks again for the help and support

Me personally, i would try both and see which works best for you because there are so many factors which can effect the performance of the antenna, I tend to go for a temporary setup to test, then I make it permanent. Quoting Wingfoot again, use good quality coax as he recommended.

[Deepquest]

Thanks again all, will post how I get on with the various setups.

Appreciate the help as ever....

[Wingfoot]

Thanks Briggs, you just answered my next question. I have seen many on web mounting in the Attic and I was going to do that initially. I realise hight is might as it goes buyt I am in quite an elevated location however I have the black mountain range in front and another range behind me. I’m not sure how much difference an extra 3m will gain.

Also, is there a limit to the length of coax which can be used, ie resistance changes depending on cable run etc. The reason im asking is that I have a long garden which slopes upward, the top being close to the facia hight on the house. It may be easier to gain the same elevation as off the chimney but with less hassle installing. It will also be more covert.

Thanks again for the help and support

Longer runs of coax will mean higher losses, if using a higher spec radio it's a simple case of upping the transmit power to compensate for it, but that is not really an option with the Baofengs, but there is an 8w version available that will compensate slightly.

I would locate the antenna in a position that would give the greatest height relative to the surrounding land, height is might, even a few feet can be critical on 2m, ive made contacts to operators on hilltops who's signals jumped up simply by having them stand up, get the best set up you can, the antenna is often more important than the rig connected to it.

Even if you need longer coax runs to achieve greater height it will be worth it in the long term, if you later upgrade to a better radio it will be easy to run higher power to compensate for any losses in the coax & you will have the best station you can have.

Wf

[Chunk]

If you can get up high? you’ll be amazed at the capability!