I'd vote to stay with what you are using. You could decrease performance to hand-helds closer in if you go with a higher gain antenna, not to mention the added cost of the bigger antenna, more wind load, more weight, greater flexing (unless there's a top bracket).
You'll see 3 dB increase at the horizon. Is this where you need coverage? If you've got a lot of users out at the very edge of coverage, it may make sense. Chuck WB2EDV ----- Original Message ----- From: "Derek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, November 23, 2007 5:55 PM Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Repeater Antenna Choice > I'm looking for input on what kind of antenna to use for several 440 > MHz amateur repeaters. > > Background: Suburban area surrounding metropolitan city of about > 700,000. HAGL for antennas range from 260' to 320' on 400' and 500' > towers. I'm looking to maximize mobile and portable input, even > possibly looking to use 1-5/8" heliax as I recently installed this size > hardline on my repeater and have been very satisfied with the results. > > I've used the DB-408 antenna and am happy with it's performance, but am > wondering about significant difference in using a DB-420 for future > repeaters. Also considering the RFS 1151 (Tessco # 435830) fiberglass > antenna. It is tuned for 440-450 MHz and has 8dB gain, but I've heard > some say fiberglass is not the way to go for repeaters. > > Any thoughts are appreciated. > > Derek > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
