Diamond D-777 or Moonraker AR-50 ????

Location : Strathaven Spotter Watch Member : No

Hello all, This Is my first posting In the Forum. For the past few weeks I have been searching through the web and magazines to try and help me decide which air band antenna to buy. At first I was looking at the Moonraker AR-50 antenna which has a gain of 4.5/7 dB compared to the Diamond D-777 which has a slightly lower gain of 3.4/5.5 dB. The reason Im posting this message Is because I have read a lot of bits & peices about the D-777 but not very much regarding the AR-50. Does anyone In the forum use or have they ever used any of these antennas that could help me make my mind up ?

At the moment I'm using a Sharman Multicom X-50 2 metre/70 antenna which I use on the amateur bands which I use for airband monitoring 99% of the time. As the crow flies I live 19 Miles from Glasgow Airport and I recieve; Tower - 1 by 1, Ground - 5 by 5 (with squelch on), Approach - 5 by 2 (with Squelch on) 33Miles from Edinburgh; Tower 1 by 1, Ground - 5 by 5 (with Squelch On), Approach - 5 by 2 (With Squelch On) and I live 24 Miles from Prestwick Airport and I recieve Navy Prestwick 5 by 7 on UHF but I presume there running high power ! From my location I think im receiving really well but I'm looking for an airband antenna to try and give me the gain Im looking for. Any help will be appreciated If anyone can help me. Thanks In advance

Location : various

Neither will give you a performance increase over your amateur dualband colinear. Spending the money on the rest of your aerial system >might< give a small improvement.

Location : Hemel Hempstead, UK Spotter Watch Member : No

Hi and welcome!

I use a Yupi MVT-7100 and have always used a Watson high-gainer whip which has been very good... In search of things further away, yesterday I bought a discone basestation antenna which I bought new for £44. I must say I am extremely impressed and it 'just' fits on the windowsill (if I have the window open) and I can easily pick up Mildenhall/Lakenheath approach frequencies and hear the F15's working in The Wash. I'm roughly 80 miles from The Hall as the crow flies and I can hear the approach load and clear!

Just shows a good antenna will make all the difference!

Diamond D-777 or Moonraker AR-50 ???? 2007102

Diamond D-777 or Moonraker AR-50 ???? 2007102

It looks just like that but with a magmount! It's about 70-80 cm tall.

Location : various

Dem0n wrote:: Hi and welcome!

I use a Yupi MVT-7100 and have always used a Watson high-gainer whip which has been very good... In search of things further away, yesterday I bought a discone basestation antenna which I bought new for £44. I must say I am extremely impressed and it 'just' fits on the windowsill (if I have the window open) and I can easily pick up Mildenhall/Lakenheath approach frequencies and hear the F15's working in The Wash. I'm roughly 80 miles from The Hall as the crow flies and I can hear the approach load and clear!

Just shows a good antenna will make all the difference!

Didn't your yupi come with a telescopic aerial? If so, that is better than the WatSon 'high-gainer' and would have worked as well on the windowsil as the 'discone'.
You are right that the aerial system is important...yet most people put little investment in that , thinking that a more expensive radio will get them more reception.

Change your 'discone' for any of the three aerials mentioned in the original post and you'll see a step improvement again on most frequencies.

Location : Hemel Hempstead, UK Spotter Watch Member : No

I got the Yupi second hand without the standard aerial.

And yeah, I have several aerials and I must admit this discone beats the pants off all of them!

Subject: Re: Diamond D-777 or Moonraker AR-50 ???? 2009-08-20, 03:56

I have a discone for sale in the 'for sale' section' Smile