Dipole Antennas
THE SCORPION DIPOLE ANTENNA
DHS/TSA…better known as The Dept of Homeland Security has deployed not only our Dipole system mounted on a tripod with great success, our standard finish is used on their Scorpion mobile installs also.
The performance of this small aperture dipole system is surprising. The Dipole at height, is directional. By rotating it 90 degrees you will have full 360 degree coverage. At ground level it performs as an NVIS antenna on 40 and 80 meters.
This Dipole system is fully adjustable from 10 to 80 meters. We supply two 5 ft whips to cover 10 through 80 meters. Typical VSWR for 10 through 80 is 1.5:1 or less with the 5 ft whips or using the Scorpion Cap Hats™ for a smaller foot print. Note: If you enjoy the lower bands and would like better performance, use two of our Caphats or two of the 102 inch CB whips available from Radio Shack.
We supply one of our current baluns that is constructed of K type material toroid mounted in a weather proof PVC NEMA 4 box to stop common mode RF currents on the outside shield of the coax, it decouples the dipole system from the coax.
An optional antenna controller for our dipole system are two of the Ameritron SDC-102 screwdriver controllers. These units have 10 memory programmable buttons along with a digital display and adjustable antenna motor over current protection.
We have tested the Dale Audio TS-88B Black aluminum speaker stand at trade shows and swap meets that we attend. This is the strongest and best built tripod we have found, and for a price of $109.00, this tripod is a true value. We have many customers using this tripod with great results.
VIEW TRIPOD HERE
SCORPION DIPOLE ANTENNA INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING
- SA-680 Dipole covers 10 through 80 meters
- Dipole length retracted: 81”, Extended: 117”
- Dipole rated at 1500 watts PEP
- Typical SWR 1.5:1 or less
- Weight 38 Lbs
- All of our antenna line are supplied with UHF connectors
SPECIFICS AND CONFIGURATION
We use 6061-T6 machined Aluminum for our dipole center mounting fixture. The mounting fixture center has been machined to accept a 3/4 X 10 TPI X 2 inch piece of stainless threaded rod that our threaded pipe adaptor screws onto. The Supplied 1 inch threaded pipe adaptor can be seen in our accessories page and our Dipole photos. Note: Customer supplies the 1 inch threaded pipe for mounting the antenna on a tripod or mast. This antenna will work great for the operator that lives in an HOA better known as Home Owners Association. All of our dipole systems can be installed either in an attic, a tripod or mast mounted.
Configuring two opposing verticals into a dipole is nothing new or revolutionary. “Hams” have been using short verticals (ham sticks) and configuring them into dipoles to gain the benefits of a dipole in a small, portable, good performing package. Since a dipole has some directivity, orientating the dipole is easy, giving the operator some choices. Our Dipoles have several advantages over the “ham stick” verticals approach to dipoles.nSo naturally, being hams ourselves, we took the next step and configured a pair of high performance, tune-able, verticals into a dipole arrangement. We found our Scorpion Antennas perform as expected of a dipole and then some.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
SHIPPING DETAILS
The Dipole System is typically shipped in three containers.
Note: Two 6″ Dia by 72″cardboard tubes are used for shipping the main antennas. Total weight on average is 28 to 30 Lbs for each antenna. The basic antenna kit is a smaller box, it is placed inside the main antenna tube. Each antennas shipping and handling through UPS is $75.00 each. The dipole center mounting fixture, 1:1 Balun and or additional control cable is shipped USPS.