Metal content to follow under the discone topic (I had to reach
to get it in there ;-))


Ground plane first. Just get something working to start with.

J poles are a blast but a bit 'fiddley' as a first antenna in my
opinion.
That's what makes them a kick to play with.

Do your scanner as a separate antenna for now. (just get something
working).
A home brewed discone might be fun. but for now, how about another
ground plane?
A look at a discone will give you any number of ideas on how to get the
ground plane
elements at the right angle. An indexing jig on an angle table in the
drill press would
make a nice looking start.

I'm doing a bad thing and not getting involved in the rest of the
discussion, but what
you need is an antenna you can listen with while you're building the
ultimate loaded
happy hoohaa bedspring grounded gopher catcher. At least that way you
have something
to listen to, and compare the results of each of the new antennas with.

When you get your ticket, inverted V if you're on HF, and a ground
plane for vhf. You'll
find you end up hanging out on mostly the same area of a band, just
tune them up, get
em running, and build the ultimate wave catcher next weekend. in the
mean time, you'll
have something that you can listen to.

Humm,,, I guess from my stand point, just get something in the air,
even if it's just a long
wire into the trees. It's a lot easier to work on an antenna, or other
project (even in the lathe)
if you've a good receiver running in the back ground.

Now for all the other guys,,, just get something up for now, then as
soon as you get your
super special rig running you can always take the ratty old thing down.

Did I say just get something working?
Good luck, have fun, and it's a hobby,,, it's supposed to be fun!