Antenna Help

[robocop80]

Hello All,

I currently live in complex of condo's and we are not allowed to put anything on the roof. I don't have an attic and I would like to pick up a new antenna to increase the range of my BCT15. Does anyone have any suggestions? I mainly monitor Public Safety Freq between 400mhz - 500mhz.

Thanks

 

[Don_Burke]

What sort of mounting options do you have?

 

[donc13]

Hello All,

I currently live in complex of condo's and we are not allowed to put anything on the roof. I don't have an attic and I would like to pick up a new antenna to increase the range of my BCT15. Does anyone have any suggestions? I mainly monitor Public Safety Freq between 400mhz - 500mhz.

Thanks

If the transmitters you are interested in are generally in a single direction, you could get a small Yagi mounted on a tripod stand (like a roof mount...just not on the roof). You could even do the same with a discone. If you don't have a porch/patio/walk-out area to put it....it's gonna not be real pretty though inside the condo.

The other option is a better back-of-set antenna like one of those at this link:

http://www.scannermaster.com/Back_of_Set_Antennas_s/126.htm

 

[ka3jjz]

Whatever you get, get it as high up as possible. If you have a small handheld, walk around with it on a short duckie, and see where there is a sweet spot where sigs tend to come in better. Try to concentrate in and around an outside wall or window. It will take a little hunting to find it, and if you are lucky, there will be more than one sweet spot in the same general area. At 400 mhz, even an inch or two in one direction might be enough 73 Mike

 

[Alliance01TX]

Couple of 'home-brew' ideas to ponder & based on the freq ranges 400~500 Mhz, your 1/4 wave is going to be in the area of say ~5-7 inches, total.... That said here's a few ideas if you are up to experimenting. Out on patio is best....
1. Tall-fake plants / trees as a base and a-fix (after spray painting the coax to a plant color to camo the coax then just connect to a say, 6" cut section of painted coat hanger
2. Umbrella's (small and large) if metal make great semi-discones type antenna's
3. Check out the Ventenna (I have one and works fine - a bit pricy)
4. Search on "Stealth Antennas' and you will find a lot of ideas.....

Try several things as even hooking into a rain gutter or a very-thin steel wire (aircraft safety wire) will work at the UHF range very well...