DPD Aerial

[Neilman2424]

hi  grimreaperuk ,

you must have a different version of this antenna to me , mine came from waters and stanton , badged under the watson brand but its quite clear this is not a watson antenna its just been put in a watson bag. the build quality of the antenna i have is the poorest ive ever seen in all my years of CB radio as a young lad and then onto ham radio...its very very poor. i expect there is somthing wrong with this antenna...i didnt have time to check it but i will go back into the loft and pull it out and put the meter on it......i may just get hold of the watson radar extender and put that in the loft to see how it compares...depends if i think waters and stanton are worthy of my cash...must say i was in there friday and there was no radio man to speak to...which is very poor....had to deal with young lad who didnt really know anything ....you just carnt get the service thease days........the supplied RB antenna just sitting here next to me in the window is much much better...so either the antenna is Capoot or its the coax....but thats W103 and all checks out with no shorts.......hmmmmm very strange......i did notice that the ground plane radials are different on the moonraker one....looks much better quality .... i had to scrape paint of mine as the whip wasnt making contact with the grub screw....how bad is that !! not a big fan of watson stuff goes back to my ham radio days ....diamond and comet antennas are very well made and perform ace......if diamond bring out an ADS-b antenna ill will buy one !!
for monitoring VHF/UHF air comms iuse a diamond dual band antenna and it works very well.
well enough rambling on from me Happy Easter Everyone and look forward to reading more posts !
Neil

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Neil, I have the Watson Radar Extender (not erected yet unfortunately :-( ) and the build quality is excellent, also a couple of Diamond antennas, and I'd put a tenner on it, that they've all come from the same factory.

[GrimReaperuk]

Hi Neil, CGJon,

As for the quality of mine its ok but your not the first to comment on its quality, so i am either lucky or its early days but certainly not worth my risk getting it installed up high on the house to deteriate. As a freebie with the RB I am not going to complain as an interim fit but I have to say mine is superior to the supplied antenna.

Aerials here are the W-777(VHF/UHF), G5RV 102Ft (HF) Marine vhf 1.7m whip.

CGJon I would be interested in seeing a polar plot of the radar extender (is this a DC grounded antenna ?) and will it be with a preamp?

Regards

Gary

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Gary, now we're getting some fairer weather, I'm hoping to get the twigs up outside (we're on 200' high cliffs on the west side of the Lizard peninsula, and only 200' from the edge, so rather exposed to sw gales and salty air). the Diamond D-777 outperforms the Diamond D-130 (I thought it was a Royal or Icom discone, but just checked the markings) discone when side by side in the loft, this is my selection

http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/radarextender-external-antenna-radarbox-p-5965.html?osCsid=4c796aaa9584c42bf57276a168489b72

http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/vx4000-diamond-2m70cm23cm-fixed-station-vertical-radials-p-5903.html?

http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/catalog/d777-diamond-120300mhz-airband-fixed-station-vertical-p-4093.html?osCsid=4c796aaa9584c42bf57276a168489b72

I have a JIM M-75 pre-amp for scaners, but want to get either the Elad 1090, Wimo AS-1090 or Kuhne 1090 mast-head type

http://www.hamradio.co.uk/acatalog/Accs_Pre-amps.html

http://www.wimo.de/cgi-bin/verteiler.pl?url=sbs-1-virtual-radar_e.html

http://www.kuhne-electronic.de/en/shop/143_Vorverstaerker/article:342_KU_LNA_1090_A_TM

I haven't found a UK supplier for the Kuhne yet, so no idea of price.

What I want to is to be able to easily and quickly swap antennas to get an accurate idea of which does what.    Don't hold your breath waiting for my results though, they could be some time coming if things follow my normal progress........................

[GrimReaperuk]

Ok Jon,

Error on my part yes i have the d-777, rather pleased with it.  I look forward to seeing the results of your experimentation, fun and the expense of the hobby!  The fact that you are on the coast with good views and trying the extender without preamp will be of particular interest as i am on the coast to.  Fantastic location by the sound of it.

My rigs are:
Icom ic-718
AOR AR8600
UBC 785XLT
UBC 3500XLT

Also have a JIM-75 although not tried that with the RB yet.

Regards

G

[Neilman2424]

coastguard john ,

i contacted Kuhne and was quoted  163.00 euros plus 17 euros for shipment for the KU LNA 1090 A TM.
you have to email them and wait for an email for an offer price.
this was dated on the 8th april
hope this helps.

regards neil

[CoastGuardJon]

Hi Neil, many thanks for that info., shame the pound is so low against the euro  :-(

Afterthought - Neil, does that price include the Bias-T, do you know please?

[Neilman2424]

My DPD has arrived in the uk WoooooooooHoooooooooooo
prob sit in customs for a week....lol

[Neilman2424]

hi everyone ,

just a post to say i have installed my DPD antenna in the loft just to try it out and i must say it is very good much better than the watson radar rama antenna which worked as well as a wire coat hanger ! .......
upon conntection the DPD and running the radar box i instantly picked up around 90 + aircraft opposed to the 15 or so picked up by the radar rama. the supplied radarbox magnet whip and ground plane managed about 30 just sitting in the window in the shack.

looking forward to getting the antenna outside soon
i have attached a polar diagram just to show how well its working inside the loft...note east and west is blocked by the two walls in the loft and north south is looking through the roof.
cheers
neil

[Neilman2424]

Hi Neil, many thanks for that info., shame the pound is so low against the euro  :-(

Afterthought - Neil, does that price include the Bias-T, do you know please?

sorry for delay in getting back CGjohn  i think it has one inbuilt and you have to run dc supply up to it ...... or if u want to feed dc via co-ax then thats extra no idea how much....i would myself just run a dc cable up to the mast as it would save on buying another bias-t.

neil