Mobile
- Thread starter dale25
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Of course you can, but depending on the antenna design, it may not work too well. What antenna do you have?
nexus
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dale you're still going to need some kind of ground plane
I wouldn't recommend it. What are you trying to accomplish? What bands/frequencies are you trying to improve reception on? What distance are you from the source?
There are a lot of factors that come into play. Getting your antenna outside the house certainly helps, but there are losses in cheap cable, and additional connectors. As nexus pointed out, you will also need a ground plane because the mag-mount is not sitting on flat sheet metal of a car. The antenna might not be the best choice for the frequencies you're monitoring, and putting it outside may not help at all. It might be more cost effective to purchase a new antenna if possible.
Again, what bands/frequencies are you monitoring, and how far away are they?
I'm on the borderline of NY and NJ. I live in The Tottenville section of Staten Island. From my block I can see the outerbridge crossing which leads into New Jersey. Just thought I would be able to pick on some NJ frequencies. What antenna do you suggest?
Once again, you need to tell us what bands/frequencies you are trying to monitor? An antenna that is good for the 150MHz band will not work well at all for the 800MHz band. An antenna designed for the 450MHz band, would not be a wise choice for monitoring the 150MHz band, or the 800MHz band. An antenna designed for the 800MHz band will not be a good performer for the 150, or 450MHz band.
I'm not familiar with NY and NJ. Can you translate your distances into approximate miles? From my backyard I can see the Moon! :wink:
400,500and 800MHz. Not trunked. I really don't how many miles it would be. I know that if I walk outside I will naturally get better recption that's why I figured a antenna outside would be better. The mobile antenna I have is multi-band. I 'm going by the concept that a mobile antenna gives you better recption while your driving around with a portable scanner so why wouldn't that same antenna give me better reception when i'm in my house.
If it's working ok for you now, putting it outside, and higher should improve things. But you will need to add a ground plane to it. What will you use to extend the coax cable?
nexus
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dale25 that antenna works well on your car because your car in effect becomes a part of your antenna system itself. The metal body of your vehicle is actually used to direct and reflect RF energy. Simply taking a mag-mount antenna and sticking it on a pole, or setting it on the roof of a house, or sitting it on your desk IS NOT very efficent. You might as well just grab a piece of wire 36 inches long and attach it to your radio. It would be about as effective.
That mobile antenna NEEDS the metal body of that car to complete the antenna. The best thing if you want to have something for in the house would be to buy a small ground plane scanner antenna from radio shack where you can mount it on a pole and it should work fine for what frequencies you want to use it on.
I suppose if you want to use the magmount antenna you could get a COOKIE SHEET and place the antenna in the center of that. It *might* give it some what of a counterpoise... not likely though.
That mobile antenna NEEDS the metal body of that car to complete the antenna. The best thing if you want to have something for in the house would be to buy a small ground plane scanner antenna from radio shack where you can mount it on a pole and it should work fine for what frequencies you want to use it on.
I suppose if you want to use the magmount antenna you could get a COOKIE SHEET and place the antenna in the center of that. It *might* give it some what of a counterpoise... not likely though.
I have converted several high gain band specific mobile antennas for base station use by fabricating mounting plates with attached radials but a mag mount? Uh uh, for more reasons than I care to list as they say in your neck of the woods, ***etaboudit. All things considered the best single antenna I believe would suit your purpose is a discone but beware of flimsy construction outdoors. I'm not a big fan of Rat Shack for that reason, Diamond is a bit more expensive but well worth it staying together.
Tooterville SI is a great location since you have a great line of sight over water to LI and NJ, just be aware of the fact that high elevations cast radio shadows. You'll have problems with Todt Hill, Mount Mitchell, Telegraph Hill and the Hudson Palisades so don't complain, like me you're at sea level and I have similar blockages up north.
Tooterville SI is a great location since you have a great line of sight over water to LI and NJ, just be aware of the fact that high elevations cast radio shadows. You'll have problems with Todt Hill, Mount Mitchell, Telegraph Hill and the Hudson Palisades so don't complain, like me you're at sea level and I have similar blockages up north.
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