[TowerTalk] What antenna is this

Thu May 7 11:50:51 PDT 2009

We have a few Scala antennas that look very much like the one in that picture. They were purchased directly from Scala for the 2-Meter, 220 MHz and 440 MHz ham bands. I ordered them in the early-mid 1990's for a ham radio emergency comm center, and they were installed on top of our 3-story office building for about 15 years. They were the Scala model OG-4 antennas, and I ordered two of them for 145 MHz, and one each for 222 and 446 MHz. I also ordered a spare 145 MHz one, which we still have in stock. I'm glad I ordered the spare now, since they're no longer available.

With some changes in the facility, they recently decided to retire the Scala antennas and replaced them with some Diamond and Comet dual-band antennas (I didn't order those!) But they wanted dual-band antennas for the newer dual-band radios they just purchased, and didn't want to have to run additional 300+ feet heliax feedlines through the building to support the extra new radios. 

Across town, we also have a 2-Meter Repeater using a Scala OG-4 145 MHz antenna on top of a 430 foot tower, which has been up for almost 20 years now and has worked very well. But it's time to replace it since it's had a hard life in the rain, wind, snow and hail over the years. It makes repeated signals have a "scratching" sound when there's a strong wind.

-----Original Message-----
>From: jim <jim at itristar.com>
>Sent: May 7, 2009 11:38 AM
>To: AD5VJ Bob <rtnmi at sbcglobal.net>
>Cc: towertalk at contesting.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] What antenna is this
>
>Made by Kathrein-Scala. Model OG-x(where x is the number of co-linear 
>sleeves)  Same form factor was used for VHF and UHF.
>Comparing the sleeves to the size of your hand, I'd say its a 440-500MHz 
>UHF version. If there's no damage, it will probably work
>fine on 440-450 ham band.  Limited distribution in US market, more 
>popular in Europe. Like others, the company has gone off to pursue
>the wi-fi pie in the sky and doesn't do much anymore in the forgotten 
>Land Mobile industry. They might have some info on
>kathrein-scala.com.  I've got the catalog if you need a spec sheet. 
>Cheers,
>Jim WA9Z
>
>AD5VJ Bob wrote:
>> Some friends locally took down a tower at the request of a new 'non-ham' owner and they are asking me to try and find out what this
>> antenna is, does anyone know.
>>
>> http://americanaerial.ad5vj.com/mysteryantenna/
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Bob AD5VJ
>>
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>