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Tiny antenna for Nomad?


bendybones

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I never had problems with mine indoors. I actually switched back to the stock big one because I was doing a lot of work outside in fields, with nothing for the 2.4 GHz signal to bounce off of.

I guess this is one of those things I should do a real-world test with at some point. Go to some big fields and see what the range difference really is

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Do you have any range issues with these Jose?

 

They work fine for what I do, which is mostly corporate, at most 20 feet away from camera with line of sight.

 

Haven't done any significant or thorough testing to compare with the stock rubber duck antenna, but I assume it has less range, as those have some gain (I think +4dBi IIRC).

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They work fine for what I do, which is mostly corporate, at most 20 feet away from camera with line of sight.

 

Haven't done any significant or thorough testing to compare with the stock rubber duck antenna, but I assume it has less range, as those have some gain (I think +4dBi IIRC).

I contaced Zaxcom this week to ask them about the gain in their 8" stock antenna (so that I could get a replacement with equal/better performance) and they told me there is no gain in that antenna.

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I contaced Zaxcom this week to ask them about the gain in their 8" stock antenna (so that I could get a replacement with equal/better performance) and they told me there is no gain in that antenna.

 

Really? Interesting. I was shopping around for replacement rubber duck antennas of the same size and they were all at least 2 or 3dBi gain antennas. If the stock ones do not have any gain, I guess then there should be no significant difference between the two as far as range goes.

 

Regardless, like I said, for most of what I do, the shortie works fine.

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Really? Interesting. I was shopping around for replacement rubber duck antennas of the same size and they were all at least 2 or 3dBi gain antennas. If the stock ones do not have any gain, I guess then there should be no significant difference between the two as far as range goes.

[snip]

 

Two or 3 dBi is 0 dB "gain", in that anything less is a lossy antenna. See John B's posting above.

Best,

Larry F

Lectro

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Thanks John. I am new to RF stuff and that L-Com link and the Digi link made things quite clear.

 

Two or 3 dBi is 0 dB "gain", in that anything less is a lossy antenna. See John B's posting above.

Best,
Larry F
Lectro

Confused about this statement though.

Will revisit this in the morning with coffee. 

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Thanks John. I am new to RF stuff and that L-Com link and the Digi link made things quite clear.

 

Confused about this statement though.

Will revisit this in the morning with coffee. 

 

Hope you have had your coffee, hopefully premium leaded. The simplest, least expensive antennas you can build or buy are the 1/4 wave whip, coax and  dipole antennas. All of these cheap, simple antennas have 2 or 3 dB of gain over an isotropic radiator (dBi). An isotropic radiator is merely a theoretical antenna that radiates equally in all directions. Think of an isotropic radiator as a mathematical idea to which you can compare all other antennas. It isn't even a desirable antenna. So, any decent antenna will have a minimum of 2 to 3 dB of gain compared to this theoretical antenna and is written as 3 dBi or 3 dB of gain compared to an isotropic radiator. So what I'm saying is an antenna with 2.5 dBi of gain is an antenna with the lowest gain you can buy, unless it has other loss due to poor construction or small size. It is not an antenna with "gain".
Best Regards,
Larry Fisher
Lectrosonics
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Hope you have had your coffee, hopefully premium leaded. The simplest, least expensive antennas you can build or buy are the 1/4 wave whip, coax and  dipole antennas. All of these cheap, simple antennas have 2 or 3 dB of gain over an isotropic radiator (dBi). An isotropic radiator is merely a theoretical antenna that radiates equally in all directions. Think of an isotropic radiator as a mathematical idea to which you can compare all other antennas. It isn't even a desirable antenna. So, any decent antenna will have a minimum of 2 to 3 dB of gain compared to this theoretical antenna and is written as 3 dBi or 3 dB of gain compared to an isotropic radiator. So what I'm saying is an antenna with 2.5 dBi of gain is an antenna with the lowest gain you can buy, unless it has other loss due to poor construction or small size. It is not an antenna with "gain".
Best Regards,
Larry Fisher
Lectrosonics

 

 

Thank you for this explanation! Makes sense.

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Hope you have had your coffee, hopefully premium leaded. The simplest, least expensive antennas you can build or buy are the 1/4 wave whip, coax and  dipole antennas. All of these cheap, simple antennas have 2 or 3 dB of gain over an isotropic radiator (dBi). An isotropic radiator is merely a theoretical antenna that radiates equally in all directions. Think of an isotropic radiator as a mathematical idea to which you can compare all other antennas. It isn't even a desirable antenna. So, any decent antenna will have a minimum of 2 to 3 dB of gain compared to this theoretical antenna and is written as 3 dBi or 3 dB of gain compared to an isotropic radiator. So what I'm saying is an antenna with 2.5 dBi of gain is an antenna with the lowest gain you can buy, unless it has other loss due to poor construction or small size. It is not an antenna with "gain".
Best Regards,
Larry Fisher
Lectrosonics

 

Thanks for taking the time to explain Larry. I'm with you now.

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Marc: I don't think so. If you want a bending antenna, I use a right angle adapter and the stock nomad one so I can fold the antenna and lay it across the top of the nomad for transport.

Also if you look at sites like LCom or even eBay, you will see tons of 2.4 GHz in different configurations.

Just make sure they have a center pin, or you get the right adapter. A lot of the antennas on home wireless routers don't have the center pin on the antenna itself (it's in the unit). I think it's okay to use those if you get the right type of adapter, but if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me. :)

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... I just was wondering if I could use a Lectro type whip antenna to minimize the stress on the connector.

Marc

I recently sent my Nomad to Zaxcom for some routine maintenance where they added a washer to the sma connector and assured me I won't have a problem down the road. So, there is an effective "update" of sorts if you're worried about the fragility of your connection.

Cheers,

Evan Meszaros

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I'm not so much worried about the fragility of the connection, but I don't want to put any additional strain on it. It's much better now in my Stingray configuration, but in my Petrol and Orca setups there was a lot of contact between the antenna and the side of the bags.

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Check this out if you can wait for snail mail all the way from China. 3dBi it says. From my and others experience, neither this nor any antenna without external amplification will yield satisfying results, unless the IFB receiver is really (REALLY) close to the Nomad. For TC however this should be good enough.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=281596535240

Edit| just saw its not meant for 2,4 GHz. Might give it a try anyways for 2$...

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I recently sent my Nomad to Zaxcom for some routine maintenance where they added a washer to the sma connector and assured me I won't have a problem down the road. So, there is an effective "update" of sorts if you're worried about the fragility of your connection.

Cheers,

Evan Meszaros

 

 

I'm not so much worried about the fragility of the connection, but I don't want to put any additional strain on it. It's much better now in my Stingray configuration, but in my Petrol and Orca setups there was a lot of contact between the antenna and the side of the bags.

 

Despite using an RA SMA adapter, I still had to replace the cable assembly between SMA and motherboard.

 

After that I superglued the mounting nut of the SMA output to the Nomad chassis. 

 

Also, each limb of the RA SMA should spin freely with respect to the other.

However, I found that when attached, the free limb had finite turns before reaching a 'stop' point where it grabs the other limb.

Turning the adapter back the other way would then loosen the adapter.

 

Adding a washer between Nomad and adapter has fixed this.

The washer is some kind of plastic-y paper, found it in my toolbox.

 

 
The antenna, when added, sits VERY flush against the side bar of Nomad.
In fact the sidebar puts a teeny bit of pressure on the antenna.
Not enough to damage it - just enough to keep it in place

 

Later i will add some kind of rubber band to keep the adapter pointing up.

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