parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (11/10/85)
x
I recently installed a Butternut SC3000 tri-band scan-
ner antenna on the chimney of my ranch house. The ham-
fest price was about $50, $10 lower than prices adver-
tised in the radio magazines.
This is my first outdoor scanner antenna since 1976, so
it seems like I can hear "everything" with the SC3000,
compared with the indoor antennas to which I've grown
accustomed.
It's difficult to evaluate the performance of the
SC3000, having just moved to this location and few
other antennas installed yet for comparison. On VHF-
Hi, the SC3000 equals, or exceeds, a 2 meter Cush Craft
Ringo (not the Ranger) mounted 3 feet lower. I'm
pleased with the Butternut's UHF performance, often
hearing the county sheriff's cars on the repeater
input.
I've a few gripes with the SC3000:
- The main vertical element is insulated from DC
ground, posing a potential lightning hazard. I
worry about this, and keep the station end of the
RG8/U coaxial cable shorted to ground when not in
use.
- Assembly was hampered by a scant, one page
instruction sheet. It was impossible to place one
of the tuning pieces at the exact position called
for in the instructions, and the poor fit between
two other pieces required improvisation using a
shim. No technical discussion is provided, so the
theory behind this unusual antenna remains a mys-
tery.
- I had trouble mounting the SC3000. It's supposed
to mount over a 1" pipe or inside a conventional 1
1/4 inch tv mast, but it just wouldn't fit inside
any of the three 1 1/4 inch Radio Shack steel
masts I tried. No brackets or U-bolts are provi-
ded, so I had to obtain a set of U-bolts, and
mount the antenna in an unorthodox fashion.
- Even though the SC3000 is spec'd at unity gain for
VHF-lo, the 19" radial system is really for VHF-
hi, so I don't expect very good results on the
30-50 MHz range.
Being an agricultural area, the terrain is flat in this
county, and the winds get quite brisk. The SC3000 is
rather frail compared to a Ringo or Hustler G6-144, and
dances around in the gusts, but has remained intact for
2 months now.
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Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414