Ham Radio Antenna’s

I have a 1MHz – 6GHz SDR transceiver (HackRF One). I’m not interested in transmitting. But, I’ve been having fun figuring out receiving. I can tell I’m severely hindered with just the OEM telescopic antenna. I can find all the AM & FM broadcast stations using SDR++ and SDR#. I’ve been trying to get SDRAngel aviation scanner to work, but I can only get mic keying squelch. The signal strength isn’t strong enough to lock in on it. I think I need a tuned 108-136 MHz aviation band antenna to get it to work. I also want to focus on 462-468 MHz FRS/GMRS frequencies and the 150-160 MHz & 450-460MHz trunked frequencies.

I’m looking for advice on mobile antenna’s. Can I trust pre-tuned antennas or should I go ahead, get a cheap frequency analyzer and tune generic ones myself? I’ll probably wind up with a set of 6 or so antennas. Are there any reasonably priced auto tune antennas?

I do have and have read the ARRL exam manuals. I do not have their antenna book. Maybe I just answered my own question, get the book. But, I’d still appreciate input on making a quiver of antennas.

That’s a lot to consider. A few points to consider..

An antenna analyzer is not cheap. They’re wonderful instruments and way, way better than an SWR meter, but you’re looking at several hundred dollars.

I’m not familiar with any automatic antenna tuners that work at HF/UHF frequency ranges. One antenna to cover 108 all the way up to 160 Mc isn’t optimum, but not unreasonable. However covering 450 Mc is really a different antenna.

In general where an antenna is can be much more important than what an antenna is. It sounds like you’re using a telescoping whip antenna inside the house. There are a lot of obstructions between your antenna and whoever you’re trying to listen to.

I’m not really coming up with any solutions for you here, sorry. Just some thoughts before I get my first cup of coffee.

Steve K0SR

If you aren’t going to transmit, get a 2m/70cm dual band base antenna and put it up somewhere outside. You won’t damage a receiver by using a dual band antenna

Jwellsy-Look at https://www.jpole-antenna.com/. Michael has a good selection of antennas at reasonable prices. You’ll probably find what you need there.

This guy I used to work with Elroy (rest his sole) could have helped you. He was the guy to go to. He had wire antennas in the trees could reach China, he had so many stories. He holds some kind of record for his portable Bike radio.

Thank you everyone for the input.

That J-Pole website is very interesting. They certainly are reasonably priced. I plan on getting at least one of his.

I’ve also ordered a couple of ARRL antenna books to better understand them. I’ve also ordered a Vector Network Analyzer. The prices have come way way down. Found a NanoVNA Lite64 that covers 500kHz – 6.3GHz with a bunch of different tests and graphs. With tax and shipping it came to $150, which I think is very reasonable. With that NanoVNA, I should be able to make, test and tune my own antenna’s, cable’s and fittings.

I’d recommend you look into discone antennas. They are very useful receive only antennas with very wide bandwidth in the vhf/uhf spectrum.
Some are fairly robust but may have some limitations if you wish to use them in mobile applications. Good luck, keep us posted on what works for you.

K0COM

Thanks Ike, those discone’s are an interesting configuration. I’ll certainly try at least one.

I’ve been having fun getting a handle on this VNA antenna analyzer. It’s extremely interesting to watch how easily SWR is affected. I haven’t really wrapped my mind around what Smith Charts are showing me. I have a really good working understanding of real power, apparent power and inductive reactance. But, I’m struggling with imaginary parts.

I ordered a Baofeng GMRS handheld to play with, It arrived badged as Pofung. Evidently Baofeng is now Pofung. So, I found that interesting.

I spent a lot of time putting together an excel file that I named Frequency Lists. It’s a pretty cool document. I’ve been sharing with my buddies at work. I attached it here so that you can check it out. I included links where you can update it with your local info.

This post thinks the file is attached. But, I don’t see that it ever actually uploads. Is there a trick here to attaching a file?
Does the forum allow uploading an xls file?
I may be able to export it into a Word Doc.
Can you attach Word Doc’s or would I have to resort to taking screen snips of it?

Word and Excel files will not load into a post.

You can copy/past the text in the word doc into a post.

-J.

Let’s try attaching a pdf.

Attachments:

1. 1-Frequency-Lists.pdf

Hey, looks like that worked.
The first 2 pages will need updated for your location.
Pages 3 & 4 should be good anywhere.

I added more frequency info to the last page.
4G uses 600MHz, 800MHz, 1.8GHz, 2.1GHz, 2.6GHz
5G Low-band: 600-850MHz, mid-band: 1.7-4.7GHz, Hi-Band 24.25-47GHZ, Extremely Hi-Band > 52.6GHz