Base scanner antenna advice.

[JimFresh]

Firsty im new to the forum so hi ppl . I have just got my self a Realistic pro 2006 base scanner, old i know but still great! Problem is that it hasnt got an bnc aerial supplied with it. Now if i had a load of money to spend then i would get a decent antenna, but at the present time im broke.. Still i can pick up a cheap one from maplin no problem there, but on websites ive seen it say that some of the cheaper aerials only cover certain bands... Obvoiusly the dearer models are going to be better i know, but will a cheap one be totally ueless? Years ago i used to have another realistic pro and that seemed to be with a cheap telescopic aerial.
Mind you i dont remember picking much over 700mhz.. Mabye i was just blind lol
So what do you think? Cheers Jim

 

[JimFresh]

Anyone got any advice?

 

[3mary2]

What kind of area are you in ie flat or hilly. What is the frequency which you intend to monitor and last what is your price range?

 

[3mary2]

Go to the top of the page use the drop down for Wiki and select antennas. Very good information on all sorts of antennas. If want want something low in money you can use the Antennex ST2 which will come with cable and mounting hardware for around $40.00. Another is the Radio Shack 20-176 for around $25.00 but you will need to buy some cable. As for the connections any Ham radio supply or even Radio Shack will have the connectors you will need to connect the cable connect to the scanner. Depending on you area, that will determine how high you might want to put the antenna above the roof line.

 

[JimFresh]

Thankyou mary for the reply. Its a suburb/estate of a small city in england and Thanks for the advice on antenna. There arent many radio/scanner shops in england anymore so im limited to general eletric stores. Im not paticularly fussy about which band i listen to really, i just like scanning through the channels, im happy with that!! when i get some more money i will get something good, but for now i think im going to have to put u with a cheap one! Here il paste the link. 5-Section Telescopic Aerial & BNC Plug > Maplin
I have never seemed to get in the higher freqencies anyways and i never could pick up the cellular band for some reason... Anyways cheers for the reply. Have a good weekend. Jim

 

[W6KRU]

As 3mary2 says it really depends on your location and what you want to hear. I am currently in an area where all of the public safety stuff is 850MHz and simulcast by several towers. I can hear it fine without any antenna on my scanner. If I want to listen to the system used by the city that is about 30 miles away then I usually need the outside antenna.