Procomm's Wideband Supercone
Full VHF/UHF TX/RX coverage on a single antenna!
A friend and fellow ham, on first seeing this
unusual antenna on UHF lower, commented
that "It ought to be called the 'star burst'
antenna!" The Wideband Supercone. a
discone antenna, was introduced to the
public al Dayton Hamvention '88, and it
immediately caught our attention. We
received one a month later and have been
using it since.
Light , Attractive, Easy to Install
The Supercone is a " simulated" solid
discone antenna made up of a series of
horizontal radial spokes which form the disc,
and a series of drooping radial rods which
form the cone , The cone and disc skeleton
are made up of stainless-steel rods, and
attach to a milled aluminum and brass center
hub. The superconee is shipped
unassembled within a stout mailing tube.
Along with the assembly instructions,
Procomm includes some general information
to help the user understand exactly what it is
he or she has received. One major difference
between this supercone and other discones
is the central vertical whip extending upward
from the center of the disc. This is a separate
vertical ground plane antenna for 10 meters.
The Superccne is both a transmitting and
receiving antenna . II weighs about two
pounds, and it's easy to install. The width of
the base of the cone is approx37". With its
whip vertical it is 69" tall. A central support
element of aluminum tubing attaches to the
center hub portion to allow the Supercone to
mount on a standard 1" diameter TV-type
mast. Continuous VHF/UHF Coverage The
Supercone covers from approximately 100
MHz 10 1.2 GHz in the discone portion, with
added coverage of the 10 meter amateur
band provided by the above mentioned,
helically wound whip. As with all Discones.
Frequency coverage in the VHF and UHF
portion of this antenna is continuous rather
than discrete. That means that any frequency
within its range may be covered with a very
low VSWR in the transmitting mode. For
receiving, the Discone is almost ideally
suited for use with a multi-band , multi-mode
Transceiver and of course, with a scanner
capable of covering its wide range.
Essentially, the Supercone is a neat.
compact, one-antenna installation for your
shack.
This Supercone Covers 100MHz-I GHz With
its small size and skeleton structure wind
loading is negligible. Procomm doesn't take
any chances however the spokes or rods
that form the shape of the antenna are
stainless steel. This eliminates many
common weathering problems
We set the assembled discone on its legs
in the shack for preliminary trimming of the
10 meter whip section. The discone portion
needs NO TUNING AT ALL. After attaching a
short length of 50 coax to the hub's S0-239
connector we attached the aluminum center
tubing to the drilled and tapped central hub
with a pair of 6-32 machine screws.
As of February, the Wideband Supercone
has been in use for six months on 148 and
440 MHz. The feedline is 69' of Andrews 500
Hellax " hard line" with a six-loot length of
RG8U coaxial cable connecting the antenna
termination to the Heliax. We installed the
antenna at the 50' level of my 65' tower ,
using a " t," arm to support it away from the
tower legs.
The VSWR was brought as close as possible
to 1:1 on the 10 meter band while still
standing on its legs in the shack. After
raising it to the 5Q.loot level , we found that
the VSWR was about 2:1 at the end of the
feedline, probably due to the difference in its
resonant frequency between the ground and
the mounting location above ground. Heating
of the plastic cap and sheath around the
helically-wound short vertical antenna
occurred at its tip with 100 Watts RF applied.
The heating caused a softening and
deformation of the cap and the plastic
sheath.
We removed the 10 meter vertical portion,
and conducted further tests on 122.8 MHz ,
147 MHz and 2 meter band and 444.5 MHz in
the amateur 70cm band). The measured
VSWR 1.2:1 at 122.8 MHz, 1.1 :1 at 147 MHz,
and 1.1:1 at 444.5 MHz. This is very
creditable performance.
Suggestions, The aluminum tubing support
required a bit of re-working to provide a
stable attachment to the center hub so that it
wouldn't wobble. It was simple to replace the
two-screw support with a three-screw weiqht, rugged construction, small size. low
support arrangement. With each machine end-loading,
screw fitted into a tapped and threaded hole
120 degrees from each other around the
periphery of the hub. We understand that this
has become a permanent " fix" on antennas
now being delivered. The antenna mounting
is now rigid and strong.
After six months of use, we have noted
some galvanic action between the threaded
ends of the stainless steel radial rods and
the aluminum brass center hub, as
evidenced by a deposit of whitish aluminum
oxide that nearly prevented easy
disassembly of the antenna when it was
taken down. The factory informed us that a
small packet of conductive no-oxidation
grease, similar to the type electricians use
for joining aluminum tubing and protecting
tele-scoping joints, now ships with every
antenna. This is an inexpensive and simple
addition for protection against corrosive
atmospheres such as air conditioning sail
and industrial pollutants.
The 28 MHz operation could be improved by
further "pruning" of the helically wound
portion to achieve a low VSWR at resonance,
and at the 5O-foot elevation. This is
something to take into account at
installation. Resonant frequency at 28 MHz
may vary by as much as 100-200 kHz between
ground adjustment and installation,
particularly as inductively- loaded whips
such as the short helically wound antenna
have typically narrow bandwidths around
their determined center frequencies . For
narrowband antennas, height makes a very
big difference in resonant frequency, Of
course, the Discone itself, without the vertical
whip needs no tuning or pruning what so
ever.
The Verdict ,
Hams. Law enforcement agencies, utility
stations. businesses, and military groups will
find the Supercone a very useful antenna.
The Supercone is an attractive and useful
adjunct to any station particularly interested
in covering the VHF and UHF portions of the
radio frequency spectrum. We believe it
performs satisfactorily over a wide band of
frequencies for both transmitting and
receiving in the VHF/UHF bands up to
1.3GHz. The price of the Supercone. which
includes a whip antenna for 28 MHz, is
reasonable, considering the antenna's light