Discone Wide Band VHF/UHF Base Antenna

Looking for an antenna that covers a huge range of VHF/UHF frequencies? Need an excellent solution in a very wide-banded antenna? Having a discone antenna in your kit is the answer!
This antenna is very cost effective and covers multiple VHF/UHF bands. If you own a scanner, an SDR receiver, a multi-band VHF/UHF handheld (walkie-talkie that you want to use at your home base) or a multi-band VHF/UHF mobile radio that you want to use a base station, this antenna is a good choice for you. A discone is a “Swiss Army Knife” (do many things) antenna that everyone should have. In fact, for the price and features, if you just got your ham radio Technician Class license, this is my recommendation for your first home base station VHF/UHF antenna. Additionally, if you have a scanner or use an SDR (software defined radio), a discone antenna for your home is an essential piece of gear everyone should have.

Q. What is a “discone” style antenna?
A. An exceptionally wideband antenna offering a very large frequency range with radiation pattern in the vertical plane (vertical polarization) that has the highest gain in the direction of the horizon.

Some Valid Use Cases:
– Transmit on many VHF/UHF frequencies with just one antenna
– SDR radio antenna for your home base
– Scanner antenna (receive across a large frequency range)

What do I use mine for?
– Paired with my tri-band handheld radio and with my tri-band mobile radio that is setup as a base station
– Connected with a switch and a splitter so that I can hook up multiple SDR (software defined radios) and scanners at the same time

Q. Which discone antenna do I use?
A. Harvest Wireless D130 25-1300MHz Discone Wide Band Base Antenna

See Graphs Below – Actual VSWR readings using:
NanoVNA Vector Network Analyzer:
These graphs below are actual readings taken using my VNA.
Notes: (How to read these graphs)
Lower SWR is better.
Anything under 1.5 is great.
Anything under 2.0 is usable (for transmit).
Anything above 3.0 and you should not transmit.
(Receive may still work fine for scanner applications)

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: Full Sweep 25-1300MHz
This antenna says 25-1300MHz from the manufacturer.
This SWR sweep shows the entire picture:
Best usage range is VHF/UHF based on actual measurements.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 130-179MHz Sweep
This antenna performs well across the entire 130-179Mhz range.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 400-520MHz Sweep
This antenna performs OK across most of the 400-520Mhz range.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 6 Meter Ham Band
This antenna performs only “OK” on the lower portion of 6 meters.
The 6 Meter SSB calling frequency is: 50.125Mhz USB
I am NOT recommending this antenna for 6 meter transmit.
It is OK for scanner use and other receive only use cases.
Note:
This antenna is not rated for high power.
Limit 6 meter power output to 20 watts (50W PEP) if you do transmit.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 2 Meter Ham Band 144-148MHz
This antenna performs very well across the entire 144-148Mhz range.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 1.25 Meter Ham Band 222-225MHz
Excellent for the 1.25 meter 220 band.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 70 Centimeter Ham Band UHF 420-450MHz
Very good for 70cm UHF (this is a very wide band).

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 33 Centimeter Ham Band 902-928MHz
OK for 33cm, a purpose built 33cm antenna is probably better.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 23 Centimeter Ham Band 1240-1300MHz
Not very good for 23cm transmit, but could work with a tuner.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: GMRS (FRS) Band 462-467MHz
OK for GMRS, not legal for FRS transmit.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: FM Radio Band USA 87.8-108MHz
OK for FM Radio receive.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: Air Band 108-137MHz
Good for Air Band (this is a very wide band).

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: Marine VHF Band 156-174MHz
Good for Marine VHF (this is a fairly wide band).

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: NOAA Weather Radio Band 162MHz
Good for NOAA Weather Radio receive.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: MURS Band 151-154MHz
Great for receive, not legal for transmit.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: PMR Band 446MHz
Great for receive, not legal for transmit.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: ADSB 978MHz
Surprising good for ADSB receive.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: ADSB 1090MHz
Surprising good for ADSB receive.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 10 Meter Ham Band 28-29.7MHz
Not a good choice for 10 meters.
Most internal radio tuners cannot compensate enough to allow transmit (above 3.0 SWR).

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 11 Meter CB (USA) Band 26.965-27.405MHz
Not a good choice for CB.

Harvest D130 Discone Antenna
SWR: 1-30MHz HF Sweep
This antenna is not good for HF transmission.
It could be used for HF receive if nothing better is available.
This chart was included for reference just in case someday a different discone style antenna is claimed to be a good choice for HF transmission (currently this is not the case, at least not for this specific one we tested).

Disclaimer:
We have done our best to provide accurate information based on our testing and information we had available at the time.
The few products we link are not paid advertisements.
Gear we recommend has been tested by us and in some cases we have linked via a RadioFan.Club affiliate to help cover some of the costs to run and maintain this site.