Matt BlazeShortwave "Discone" Antenna, AT&T High Seas Transmitter Site, Ocean Gate, NJ, 2009.
All the pixels, none of the risk of sea sickness or scurvy, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4141766569
Zimmie@mattblaze Not sure off the top of my head what the name for that type of antenna is, but it’s not a discone—there’s no cone. A discone involves a radiating disk, then a cone with its apex at the center of the disk as the counterpoise.
Still really neat history.
@bob_zim It’s a discone.
The tip of the conical section is at the base of the tower (from the ring). The “disc” is the buried ground system.
@mattblaze Huh. I think this is the first I’ve even heard of oriented that way. So the suspended ring is just to hold the counterpoise?
Seems like the guy wires would interfere too much for such a system to be usable. I guess that’s why they’re running at weird angles rather than directly to the closest segment of the ring.
@bob_zim This is a pretty standard design for lower frequency discone antennas used in commercial facilities. The guy wires have to be insulated, as I recall.
The military uses a version that’s oriented more like a familiar VHF/UHF discone, which they call a “disc-cage”. It’s a more complex design, because the entire base of the conical has to be isolated from ground.
Discones are basically half of a biconical dipole.