I was looking to purchase the kit that includes the “RTL-SDR Blog Multipurpose Dipole Antenna Kit” but I noticed that it says “Designed for portable and temporary outside usage. Please do not use outside during poor weather conditions.”
If I wanted something that allows me to use it 24/7 with all weather conditions, what antenna would you recommend?
What frequencies are you wanting to receive? What are your ‘outdoor’ conditions - i.e. will this be roof mounted, mounted on a mast, wire strung between the house and a tree…..?
That will give you guidance as to the type of antenna.
I wouldn’t really know what the better alternatives are, as I’m extremely new to all of this, but I would say that you can get away with leaving it outside for a spell - I left mine affixed to the outside of an upstairs window for a few days during some heavy rain and wind (I know that I probably shouldn’t have done) and it survived - although I have brought it inside now. Obviously your main worry is lightning, but if you’re in a reasonably built up area there are probably all sorts of more tempting targets for lightning in terms of the path of least resistance. How critical is it for you that it’s absolutely always on? I tend to operate on the rule of thumb of disconnecting the antenna from the donle in the event of really severe weather.
The MLA-30 loop is a good choice for frequencies less than 50 Mhz.
Without knowing what your interested in in particular, the best thing for general scanning would be a Discone mounted on your roof.