Antennas

KF5ALO · #1 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 12:42 AM

Since Im living in the dorms on campus, they say that were not allowed external antennas. Are these snoop daddy antennas some magical things?
TUNABLE DESKTOP SNOOP DADDY TELESCOPIC SCANNER ANTENNA - eBay (item 370258357481 end time Oct-10-09 06:46:15 PDT)

Or could I just get one of those window mount antennas and put it on the window of the dorm? I dont think anyone could really see that since theres a tree in front of my window.

zz0468 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KF5ALO

Since Im living in the dorms on campus, they say that were not allowed external antennas. Are these snoop daddy antennas some magical things?

No, there's nothing magical about any antenna, especially those. It's just a piece of wire enclosed in a piece of PVC water pipe and painted.

FLRAILMAN · #3 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 01:18 AM

My friend, all I can say is this, hold off purchasing that thing until some knowledgeable antenna guys respond to your post & give you a pro or con on it, I read that whole speil & it sounds kinda fishy but I could be wrong. If you cant wait, if I were you & those were the only two options you had, I'd go for the window mount antenna instead, just be patient though, you will get an answer soon enough.
FLRAILMAN

NYRHKY94 · #4 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 11:19 AM

KF5ALO:

Many of us have had good results running a magnet mount antenna (Larsen and/or Antennex ABSCANC Tri-Band are my top choices) inside. As long as you place the antenna on a metal ground plane like a cookie sheet or file cabinet, you should do fine for your purposes. And depending upon how high-up you are in the dorm, your mileage may even be better than usual.

ERICMYERS · #5 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 11:07 PM

depending on what you want to hear, you might get by perfectly fine with the regular back of set antenna. we don't know what kind of scanner you have or what you're trying to hear or the conditions of your listening area, so a recommendation is virtually impossible. i do know that a Radioshack 800 mhz rubberduck antenna on a right angle bnc adapter hooked up to my 996 with the radio sitting on a nightstand works fine for 90% of what i want to hear.

A mag mount on a cookie sheet or file cabinet sounds goofy, but it's proven. we've all done that one at some point or another.

Antennas are cheap, no one antenna is best, lots of kinds of antennas are easy to build (completely possible in a dorm room even). you could probably build what you see on that ebay listing quite easily for a few bucks and a little research time if you're even halfway handy.

experiment, don't look for magic wands.

DPD1 · #6 (**permalink**) 09-15-2009, 11:28 PM

One real easy one to do that works fine and won't get female visitors looking at you funny... Just get one of those little BNC clip things with the 15' or so of cable. Put a good hand held antenna on that and clip it in a spot that gets the best reception. Or yo can have a few different ones for different bands. When you're indoors, just moving something a few feet can be a huge difference. With something that small, you can put it anywhere and find the best spot.

himelrick · #7 (**permalink**) 09-17-2009, 12:28 PM

as others have stated try a telescopic antenna on your unit,(most base scanners come with one) or my favorite is a radio shack magnetic dual coil antenna stands approx. 3 feet high and works great,

KC9GLG · #8 (**permalink**) 09-17-2009, 01:04 PM

This is an Email that I sent to slinkyantennas asking about the Snoop antennas.

Dear slinkyantennas,

Instead of Bashing your competition, how about a cut-away photo of this amazing antenna you are trying to sell???

Their reply,

Why would you need it?
We don't sell our fine antennas to smart ass CB Greaserz who just got their tech class license!
Besides, you're blocked from our e-mail and from bidding on or buying our products!

mrkelso · #9 (**permalink**) 09-17-2009, 01:27 PM

Its just a piece of wire taped to a stick and hot glued at the cap bottom. Then a cap glued on with a hook and some coax and connector.

I made one that looks just like it and hung it up. It works for local stuff and thats about it.

mrkelso · #10 (**permalink**) 09-17-2009, 01:35 PM

A cookie sheet and some mag mounts is all you need.

tonyclark · #11 (**permalink**) 09-17-2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KC9GLG

This is an Email that I sent to slinkyantennas asking about the Snoop antennas.

Dear slinkyantennas,

Instead of Bashing your competition, how about a cut-away photo of this amazing antenna you are trying to sell???

Their reply,

Why would you need it?
We don't sell our fine antennas to smart ass CB Greaserz who just got their tech class license!
Besides, you're blocked from our e-mail and from bidding on or buying our products!

They sure know how to talk good business don't they...

Big_Ears · #12 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009, 04:20 PM

If your dorm room is located on the upper levels of a multi-level building, then you may be in luck and not need another antenna. That's is unless you are overshadowed by even taller buildings. Your problem might not be the inability to receive weak signals, but rather may be having too much interference from the surrounding lighting fixtures, PC noise or front end/IF overloads from nearby transmitting antennas.