Don, I think you mean the DB224, since there is no mention of a DB204 in the DB catalog. Compared to the DB224JJ antenna, considered by many to be the Cadillac of 220 repeater antennas, the Hustler G7-220 is a Yugo.
I have one of each of these two brands in base station service right now, and I am surprised that the G7-220 has lasted four years. The cast metal base of the G7 is so corroded that I doubt it will last another year. The DB224 was six years old when I got it, and it has been at my site for another six years, and it is performing perfectly with no problems at all, even surviving at least two lightning strikes. I took extreme care in assembling the G7, which has three slip joints with hose clamps and four threaded joints. After measuring and marking the locations of the slip joints, I sanded the mating parts to remove the surface oxide and then applied No-Alox to prevent corrosion and poor contact in the future. I also used No-Alox on all threaded joints for the same reason. (No-Alox is one of many brands of the gritty gray compound used for aluminum wire joints.) The G7-220 needed quite a bit of tweaking to achieve proper tuning on the frequencies I needed, while the DB224 is inherently broadband over the 220-225 MHz segment, and requires no tuning. I would never use the G7 for repeater service, simply because it will not hold up at a windy hilltop site, nor will it duplex well due to its inherent design. The DB224, on the other hand, is extremely rugged and has a very smooth and predicable vertical pattern. Since my new 220 repeater is at one side of its intended coverage area, I am going to install a DB224E-JJ antenna at that location in the near future. The "E" indicates an offset version (all four dipoles are in line on one side of the mast) that has an honest 9 dBd of gain. Keep in mind that a low-loss feedline is very important at 220 MHz. Your antenna at 100 feet will probably have at least 125 feet of feedline between it and the duplexer. I strongly suggest that you use 1/2" Heliax (1.3 dB loss) or 5/8" Heliax (0.9 dB loss) so that you can get a decent receive signal. Remember that the effective range of any repeater is based upon how well it can receive the mobile or portable stations, not by how much power it has. Anything you can do to reduce received signal loss adds to your repeater's range. 73, Eric Lemmon WB6FLY > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "KA9QJG" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: <[email protected]> > > Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 11:23 AM > > Subject: [Repeater-Builder] 220 Rptr Ant > > > Please don't jump on me too hard for asking this question, but here goes: Is > the Decibel > Products 4 Bay - 220MHz - DB-204 antenna a better ant for a 220 Repeater than > a G-7 at > 100 ft? > Thanks, Happy repeater building > Don KA9QJG Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Repeater-Builder/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
