Unobtrusive external antenna

Rory said:
Since you’re in Queens, it’s worth saying that I’m in Jackson Heights in a 6th floor apartment with nothing between me and the LGA tower that is more than 12’ above my elevation.

As you can also understand, I am not about to do anything that can’t be done conveniently from my apartment window.

I’m getting good reception from LGA, and just wanted to see if there was an easy way to improve it, and maybe improve TRACON reception and maybe bring in JFK. The result is that the MFJ1717, in my situation, makes no significant difference. Not a big deal, given that it cost $30 shipped.

If you have alternate suggestions for a 6th floor Jackson Heights window, I’d love to hear them.
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Got it.

I don't live in Queens - I used to work out of the city and spent a fair amount of time doing work in Queens (as well as the other boroughs). Had the chance to work on some stuff with FAA communications back in the day. Had the chance to see the "innards" of LGA, ISP, JFK,a nd EWR towers - but that was a long time ago.

Chances are you won't pull in JFK or any more of Tracon than you hear now. Tracon - and NY Center - use a variety of sites around the region. If there's one at LGA, you should be able to pull it in. JFK is probably too far, especially considering that the antennas are optimized for above-the-horizon transmission and reception. You'll hear the aircraft OK, but not the ground stations. I am currently about 8-10 miles from DCA as the crow flies but can't hear the ground stations (nor get the ADSB data) even with a rooftop antenna on my house. Same deal with IAD. But I can hear the transmitters no the Tyson's remote tower site fine.

Here's an example of how some ham radio operators solved a similar issue to yours using a "j-pole" antenna homemade with transmission line. Unless you have a balcony (or a window that opens), you may be stuck with a solution like this being the best you can do. http://www.w4ava.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/image01.jpg
 
Palmpilot said:
I'm not sure this is very significant for receiving purposes, but the MFJ-1717 is tuned for the 144-148 MHz ham band. It would need to be about 15% longer to be optimum for the 188-136 MHz aviation band.
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I have several of the MFJ1717's and the both tune up best at 135 MHz... 1.12:1.... ya, out of the HAM 2 meter band,.. and that is why I use them on my aircraft HT's.... MHJ= Mighty Fine Junk,,,.. it works, Ok, and is low cost.
 
Glenn D said:
I have several of the MFJ1717's and the both tune up best at 135 MHz... 1.12:1.... ya, out of the HAM 2 meter band,.. and that is why I use them on my aircraft HT's.... MHJ= Mighty Fine Junk,,,.. it works, Ok, and is low cost.
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I guess the MFJ-1717 product description is somewhat inaccurate.

I have something similar under the Diamond brand, but I haven't tried connecting an SWR meter to it.
 
I think that the MFJ 1717 was worth a shot for the money, but it has not made a significant difference in reception over the ICom A25’s stock antenna.

In saying that, please note that I am only 1.6 miles from LaGuardia and am getting good reception in the first place.
 
For receive only, a "beverage" antenna would work just fine. ("Beverage" antenna= random length of wire) just support it between two trees, and have at it.
Palmpilot said:
I'm not sure this is very significant for receiving purposes, but the MFJ-1717 is tuned for the 144-148 MHz ham band. It would need to be about 15% longer to be optimum for the 188-136 MHz aviation band.
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Actually it would be shorter, not longer. The lower frequency, the longer the antenna.
Just cut it for the center of the aviation band, about 162mhz. for a 1/4l vertical antenna it would be about 17 11/32" long.
 
bluerooster said:
Actually it would be shorter, not longer. The lower frequency, the longer the antenna.
Just cut it for the center of the aviation band, about 162mhz. for a 1/4l vertical antenna it would be about 17 11/32" long.
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The civilian aviation band is 118 - 136 MHz for the comm frequencies. (I mistakenly typed 188 - 136 MHz.)
 
bluerooster said:
For receive only, a "beverage" antenna would work just fine. ("Beverage" antenna= random length of wire) just support it between two trees, and have at it.
Click to expand...

I suggested that in my original post and was told that an MFJ 1717 was a better option.

Time to go buy some copper wire and try it out :)
 
Palmpilot said:
The civilian aviation band is 118 - 136 MHz for the comm frequencies. (I mistakenly typed 188 - 136 MHz.)
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And I didn't catch it. 1/4l vertical would then be 22 1/8" (center frequency)

Just a few inches longer.
 
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