House Mount External Antenna Question

[coyote1964]

Hi All,

Still new to the hobby, but learning fast. This question is about adding an external antenna to my home.

I am using a Pro-95 scanner and am interested in listening to the neighborhood frequencies in the retirement community where my mother lives, emergency, etc., which is about 20 miles NW (Zellwood) of where I live in downtown Orlando.

With the rubber ducky antenna, at least one or two of the 8 frequencies comes in with barely audible static, so I'm just outside the range to hear the channels properly.

I noticed that Radio Shack has a VHF/UHF antenna that sells for around $24 and they also have the discone antenna that you people are lauding, for around $70.

I'm wondering if I can mount either of these things at the peaks of one of my roof ends which is around 15 feet off the ground (2-story) without having to mount it to a pole in the ground. I was thinking some kind of bracket to mount it to the facia board and staple the coax down to where it will enter the house and, I assume, mount into some sort of wall plate.

The house construction is wood-frame with asphalt shingles.

The frequencies I am monitoring for those particular channels are in the 400Mhz range, i.e. 466.1250, etc.

Any thought whether based upon my spec above, the less expensive antenna might do the job?

Also, before I contact my local zoning, anyone familar with whether metro areas typically require some sort of permit to house or pole mount a scanner antenna?

Thank you for any help you can provide.

Ron Jaffe
Orlando, Florida

[crayon]

Also, before I contact my local zoning, anyone familar with whether metro areas typically require some sort of permit to house or pole mount a scanner antenna?

Every place is different, but usually, if you do not go any higher than the mast mounted TV antenna's around you .. you should be okay.

Do not see a single mast mounted TV antenna anywhere? (like the subdivision that I live in .. ) Chances are either zoning or a homeowners association is disallowing it. More research will be needed.

If you know that you will be scanning in a certian frequency range, perhaps you would be best served using a directional antenna because of its higher gain.

[iceman47]

The smaller Radio Shack groundplane antenna works great at all frequencies and is smaller than the Discone antenna. It's also cheaper.
If you mount to the wood of your house, I suggest that you add a separate ground from the mount to a cold water pipe or ground rod for protection.
Also, if you have vent pipes on your roof, you can use a short length of mast and use simple hose clamps to attach it to the pipe.
Best if the vent pipe is metal since you will have a good ground and if it is PVC you will have to add a ground wire.
Just a suggestion! Good luck.