TN.Frank Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 So, the little antenna that ships with the kit is ok for local FM stations and stuff but I'd like something better so I can really pull in some signal. The connector on the dongle isn't a standard coax style like you'd find on your TV so you can't just run to Lowes and buy a set of rabbit ears and hook up to it. What are some of the parts a person would need to get to mod an antenna so it can be used with the dongle or what are some antennas that can be used? Since it's only going to be 24MHz to 1766MHz what will work? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreidiv Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 http://www.tinkersoc.org/2013/01/software-defined-radio/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deathdealerxx Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 (edited) Well you would need an rp-sma connector its the same one that comes on the mark iv. I just cut my stock antenna cable from the sdr and crimped the RP-SMA to the stock cable with the stock mcx connector for the sdr. I use a 9dbi antenna and am able to get many more frequencies. http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m504/craigslistpics4130/IMAG0627.jpg http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m504/craigslistpics4130/IMAG0616.jpg Edited February 4, 2014 by deathdealerxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Ahh, ok, so you just basically modify your stock cable to accept more antennas. Got it. I worked building cables at Motorola for Microwave Communications for Satellites so adding a connector to the end of the stock cable should be a piece of cake. My local Radio Shack should have the parts I need then I can connect the modified cable to whatever antenna I want. I've seen a few designs on the interweb, just need to figure out which one will work out the best for my needs. Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Also, does anyone ever remember using speaker wire as an antenna back in the day? We'd split it to 3 feet each side and hang it onto the wall so we'd have an overall length/width of 6 feet which is approx. what FM is. Then we'd run it into our reviver to pick up the signal. I wonder if I could get some eyelets and some speaker wire and rig something up to use with the stock antenna. I could place the speaker wire under where the antenna screws to the base with an eyelet then run it over to the wall and out each direction 3 foot a side and hang it using eyelets at each end of the wire with thumb tacks. That should bring in the signal better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Also, does anyone ever remember using speaker wire as an antenna back in the day? We'd split it to 3 feet each side and hang it onto the wall so we'd have an overall length/width of 6 feet which is approx. what FM is. Then we'd run it into our reviver to pick up the signal. I wonder if I could get some eyelets and some speaker wire and rig something up to use with the stock antenna. I could place the speaker wire under where the antenna screws to the base with an eyelet then run it over to the wall and out each direction 3 foot a side and hang it using eyelets at each end of the wire with thumb tacks. That should bring in the signal better. Depends on what you want to listen to. That will work for fm radio, but if you want to do adsb, that antenna length is about an inch and a half for a quarter wavelenght antenna if I remember correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no42 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 In the UK I have used a friends http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sky-scan-mobile-scannerantenna-qt33l ; get me from 20MHz - 2GHz RX Have tried http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/scanking-discone-antenna-qt28f; but only gets me 20MHz - 1.3GHz RX You can try making your own http://www.sdrformariners.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/beginner-antennas.html + http://helix.air.net.au/index.php/d-i-y-discone-for-rtlsdr/ Theres more to read up on here: http://rtlsdr.org/antennas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN.Frank Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Well, I got a speaker wire antenna hooked up and I picked up around 14db from the stock little antenna. 102.5FM, our most powerful FM channel was coming in at around -24db, now it's coming in at around -10db. Huge different for just a bit of wire. Now it's time to do some more scanning to see what I can find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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