amplifier for pro-197 & rs vhf-hi/uhf antenna
- Thread starter bonk83
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Your best 'amplifier' is the antenna system itself - namely the antenna and coax. You didn't say much about your setup, but if your antenna is outdoors, nice and high, and you're using a good quality grade coax (RG6 or 9913, for example), you're probably as good as you're going to get.
Putting an amp on a scanner that has as sensitive a front end as the RS/GRE object scanners have can cause more problems than it's worth. In your case, it didn't work - but in many cases, it just adds noise to the system, or worse, causes too much signal for your scanner to handle. That can cause signals to show up where they don't belong (intermod), or in severe cases, cause the radio to lose sensitivity in one or more bands (desense)
I would be cautious about improving the antenna and coax given the sensitivity of that radio, but it's a better shot than adding an amp that might cause more issues than it cures. ..HTH...Mike
Putting an amp on a scanner that has as sensitive a front end as the RS/GRE object scanners have can cause more problems than it's worth. In your case, it didn't work - but in many cases, it just adds noise to the system, or worse, causes too much signal for your scanner to handle. That can cause signals to show up where they don't belong (intermod), or in severe cases, cause the radio to lose sensitivity in one or more bands (desense)
I would be cautious about improving the antenna and coax given the sensitivity of that radio, but it's a better shot than adding an amp that might cause more issues than it cures. ..HTH...Mike
KC4RAF
Member
+1 with Mike
on the amplifier. The GREs have great front ends and it's easy to overload. Plus you're going to amplify the noise floor which as he posted is worse. For weak signals you can, if you have space and money, erect a yagi directional antenna to a station and get good results.
on the amplifier. The GREs have great front ends and it's easy to overload. Plus you're going to amplify the noise floor which as he posted is worse. For weak signals you can, if you have space and money, erect a yagi directional antenna to a station and get good results.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
One thing that may help - and it has, in many cases - is a FM trap. What you want to accomplish here is to stop strong stations from the FM broadcast band (88-108 Mhz) from getting into the scanner.
Without going into the technical jargon, if you have several FM stations which are very strong, they can swamp a scanner - particularly if you have an outdoor antenna - to the point that it makes the scanner seem much less sensitive than it already is.
I'm certain RS and Scanner Master both have this - but first, take stock of the strongest FM stations in your area, and make sure the filter will notch out these frequencies, or at least most of them. I've seen several threads that have reported positive results with a FM filter inline.
HTH...Mike
Without going into the technical jargon, if you have several FM stations which are very strong, they can swamp a scanner - particularly if you have an outdoor antenna - to the point that it makes the scanner seem much less sensitive than it already is.
I'm certain RS and Scanner Master both have this - but first, take stock of the strongest FM stations in your area, and make sure the filter will notch out these frequencies, or at least most of them. I've seen several threads that have reported positive results with a FM filter inline.
HTH...Mike
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