My homebrew

[webley445]

Nothing really to brag about I guess but figured I'd post it anyways.

followed these plans

SCANNER ANTENNA

Had some #14 solid, screws, and pieces of pcb board laying around so put it together and soldered up. Had a length of RG59 with a bnc on the end so used that. Its hooked up to a PRS500.

Aircraft freqs are coming in alot better than before. I had seem some other plans for a even more basic design where you are using the coax itself as the main element. Think it was on hamuniverse.com, anyways they said that it wasn't neccessary to remove the insulation so I didn't bother doing so on this one. But I am wondering if it is detrimental to do so? Would it give any improvement?

 

[webley445]

Here's the other more simple design from hamuniverse

Build A Simple VHF/UHF Scanner Antenna - A Police Scanner Antenna on the Cheap!

 

[specman]

Congratulations! Welcome to the world of homebuilt antennas. I find great satisfaction in building something that actually works!

There should be no need to strip that insulation off. While in scientific terms it does have a very minor effect on design parameters; for you it is essentially "transparent" to radio signals and can be left on.

 

[webley445]

Cool! Didn't want to have to mess with it now thats its all put together.
Got a j pole design i want to try next. Its fun bubba-fying.

Also, I'm not very knowledgeable on all the science of it all, but I am getting better results with the PSR500 using the factory rubber duck that my previous RS scanner.
Had to use the RS 800 antenna to get the local Motorola 800 system and performance on other conv freqs was poor.
With the 500, seems I can get the 800 system very well regardless of the antenna i use. Antenna seesm to come into play with conv freqs on the 500.

On the 500, using the factory duck, I was getting one side of marine channles and just a few aircraft. With the home brew I am getting traffic that is more clear and some of the "other" side of transmissions. Plus some freqs are coming in with voice, where previously it was just squelch breaking and static.
I'm thinking I really need to get something that is pole mounted 20-30 feet in the air to get optimal performance.

 

[tmar]

I followed the same plans for my first one too. I'll have to go up on the roof to get some pictures of it. I mostly listen to VHF and I can hear quite well in the 80-85 mile radius on the bct15. Not bad for about $8.

 

[webley445]

I followed the same plans for my first one too. I'll have to go up on the roof to get some pictures of it. I mostly listen to VHF and I can hear quite well in the 80-85 mile radius on the bct15. Not bad for about $8.

How high up is it mounted??

 

[tmar]

I've never measured it, but it's a two story house so I would says ~30 feet.

 

[webley445]

Yeah, I gotta get something up that high, just to see what kind of results i can get, even if its a rubber whip on a pole, lol.

 

[kb2vxa]

Maw, git mah shotgun... theah's a dang weird lookin' critter in th' haause!!!

 

[AlmostHandy]

Hey right on! Those were the plans I used for my first HomeBrew antenna too!

I made mine out of Coat Hangers and a UHF Chassis connector. It's still up in the yard, and works great. It's a solid antenna.

Let us know how yours works out! Looks great! The uglier the better!