I have seen the same degradation in quality on the DB224 series of antennas as well. We have had at least 10 failures in the last 6 years. The problem is the harnesses. They leak. Water seems to be getting into molded splice covers where they join two or more pieces of coax making up the harness. I have seen and heard of many more of these failures due to the same fault... We are considering going to the RFS Celwave PD340 series. The price is just a little higher but the harness is internal like the DB264. RFS Celwave warranty s the antenna for 5 years instead of 2 for the DB224. I have also looked at some antennas made by Byrd or TX/RX systems. They make a model that looks like a DB304. I have not priced them yet... I really have only installed one of the sinclair folded dipole arrays. I don't remember the model, but I was not impressed with it. Hope this helps. You might try contacting Andrew/Commscope about your problem. See what they say. I bet they are aware of the problem. 73 es Good luck! De N5NPO Norman Knapp
----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Sent: Thu Feb 11 11:21:41 2010 Subject: [Repeater-Builder] Seeking recommendations for 2 Meter repeater antenna We have a DB224 antenna that may need to be replaced. It is configured for an offset pattern [all the loops point the same way] The replacement antenna should be capable of the same pattern. An engineer with a local communications company has told me that his experience with recently purchased DB224 antennas has not been favorable. Apparently the quality / performance of the current imported ones may not be as good as the older ones were. Has anyone else had similar issues? It appears that there are several alternative antennas: Sinclair SD214 Sinclair SD224 Telewave ANT150D6 RFS340 Comprod 874F I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has experience with any of these antennas in repeater service. TIA & regards, WB0EMU
