Good for General purpose listening ??

[macinius45]

Hello everyone..I did read places on site where i thought i would find answers..however,its still Greek to me.
Just wanted the "experts"ie:you guys opinion on this....so,for my small scanner(drop in pocket),would this antenna specs.suffice?
2:1 or less SWR: 153-157/460-470MHz
Wide range receive: 118-960MHz
Max Power: 5 watts
Length: 3 inches

Just for listening in the city,very close..Thanks

[WayneH]

This thread was inadvertently started in the Scanner Reviews forum so I'm moving it to the MA forum. I'm not sure where else to put it.

[GrumpyGuard]

Originally Posted by macinius45

....so,for my small scanner(drop in pocket),would this antenna specs.suffice?
2:1 or less SWR: 153-157/460-470MHz
Wide range receive: 118-960MHz
Max Power: 5 watts
Length: 3 inches

Just for listening in the city,very close..Thanks

The 2:1 SWR refers to the impedance match between the antenna and feedline. An SWR of 1:1 is the best match. The Standing Wave Ratio is only a concern if you plan on using this antenna with a transmitter so you don't need to concern yourself with this number.

The 153-157/460-470 refers also to the transmission frequency(ies) of your radio. If you only plan on listening to vhf/ufh this antenna should preform quite well for you.

The Max power again is for transmitting and the short length could pose a problem in picking up some transmissions.

As most of these antennas are reasonably priced you can purchase it and give it a try.

Have you tried the stock antenna that came with your scanner? If so are you having performance issues with it?

I hope this helps some.

[russellmaher]

Hi macinius45, and welcome to RR.

Can you tell us what model of scanner you're using and just which systems you want to listen to?

We may be able to help if you provide more specifics.

Russell

[ix9]

judging by the wider than Baofeng/Wouxun rx range, i presume some sort of Yaesu HT. i have used a few and found them fairly bad on wideband rx. like, squelch opening from a channel 50 khz away .. on a 6 inch whip.. inside red line tunnel. the only way i found them useful for eg BPD listening was wideband FM on 460.3 or so, and you'd just hear everything at once

[N1BHH]

SWR is not a problem when receiving, nor is it really a problem with transmitting. People take that SWR being high as a downer. it is but not as much as people make it out to be. Any piece of wire from 3 to 18 inches will work just fine as a receiving antenna from within 10 miles of any big city. I listen to Boston UHF stuff with a 3 inch whip with some limitations but I'm close enough that it isn't an issue.