Brian's 20-176 Base Antenna
Review
The Basics:
| Model |
20-176 |
| Type |
Ground Plane |
| Freq Range |
108 - 1300 MHz |
| Price |
$ 20.00 |
| Store |
Radio Shack |
Construction:
The 20-176 antenna is constructed of one long element sticking straight
up out of the top of the hub with 2 small elements that stick up at an
angle. It has 3 other elements that shoot basically straight out
of the middle hub. It has a PL-259 connection and a mounting bracket
for an antenna mast. It's small and can be easily put in an attic
or even a larger sized closet.
Performance:
I have this antenna mounted in my attic hanging from the top rafters
with duck tape. I have used 50ft of RG 8/U cable to bring the signal
down to my BC895xlt scanner. When I first got it all connected up,
right away I noticed a difference in my reception. I listen to transmissions
from reapeaters around 20 miles away and before the 20-176 there was some
static or the signal would just be weak. Now they come in clear as
if I'm just a couple miles from the transmitter. I can say that it
has just about doubled my reception on everything but the 800MHz band.
Here is a chart with the comparison of the stock antenna that came with
my BC895xlt scanner and the 20-176. I used the S-meter on my BC895xlt
to show the difference. I only used frequencies that have high traffic
in my area so I can get a good comparason of the two. A zero means
that the signal wasn't strong enough to register on the S-meter.
| Freq. |
20-176 |
Stock |
| 42.420 |
3 |
2 |
| 154.010 |
3 |
1 |
| 154.160 |
1 |
0 |
| 154.815 |
3 |
0-1 |
| 155.130 |
4 |
4 |
| 155.310 |
1-2 |
0 |
| 155.535 |
3 |
1 |
| 155.550 |
1-2 |
1 |
| 155.640 |
1 |
0 |
| 162.550 |
4 |
3 |
| 415.200 |
3 |
1 |
| 453.325 |
2 |
1 |
| 460.025 |
4 |
4 |
| 460.700 |
1 |
0 |
| 854.2125 |
1 |
2 |
| 855.0125 |
1-2 |
1-2 |
| 859.9875 |
4 |
3-4 |
| 866.7625 |
2 |
2 |
The Air Traffic frequencies I did just a tad different. Basically
I just compared receiving the tower and the planes seperately, the air
band is 119.0MHz - 136.0MHz.:
| Source |
20-176 |
Stock |
| Tower |
2-3 |
0-1 |
| Planes |
4-5 |
4 |
As you can see, the 20-176 doubled or greatly improved the signals I received
except for the 800 MHz band. It even brought out frequencies I had
never received before. I did this test on an average spring afternoon
in about a 3 hour time frame.
My 2 cents:
For a twenty dollar antenna, you can't go wrong. The part that
will bite you is the thirty five bucks for the cable to hook it all up.
FACT: the antenna will only perform as good as the cable is.
I was surprised at how well this little antenna did especially with it
mounted in the attic. One of these days, I might just mount it outside
higher up just to see if it's any better but for now I'm happy. I
would recommend this to any one that wants to improve their reception for
the air bands and the 150MHz - 170MHz range. If you need help in
the 800MHz band, I'd try something else, it sort of hurt things there.
The 20-176 antenna is sold at Radio Shack for around 20 bucks.
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