jlo
Member
anyone have any suggestions on what is the best antenna that has the greatest distance.
i'm looking to get something for home.
thx j
i'm looking to get something for home.
thx j
best antenna that has the greatest distance
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n5ims
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Without additional information, it's impossible to give you a useful answer. "Best" is pretty subjective. What's best for my situation may be "worst" for yours. By providing specifics on what you're trying to accomplish (such as frequencies, interior or exterior antenna, tower size, etc.) our answers will be more useful than the one below.
Since you're asking about greatest distance and "home" use, a satelite dish may be the best answer. They normally are allowed in most homes and generally work well for signals from about 22,000 miles away.
Since you're asking about greatest distance and "home" use, a satelite dish may be the best answer. They normally are allowed in most homes and generally work well for signals from about 22,000 miles away.
poppafred
Member
prcguy
Member
fineshot1
Member
Fyi
Read this thread please and be aware there is NO best this or that. It is not that simple.
Many of your local and personal parameters will contribute to what is best for you.
What is best for you may not be best for someone else, and visa versa.
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-forum/153485-there-no-best.html
Read this thread please and be aware there is NO best this or that. It is not that simple.
Many of your local and personal parameters will contribute to what is best for you.
What is best for you may not be best for someone else, and visa versa.
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-forum/153485-there-no-best.html
n4yek
Member
Depends on how much wind resistance it has when you throw it. :lol: sorry, just a small joke.
ic746
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I use a Radio Shack tv antenna, I cut the clamp off and mounted it vertically works very well for distance for me at 50 feet up. But like a lot of others have said depends on your location, I had to do a lot of experimenting before I came up with this design.
Calvin
Calvin
doug1956
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i have a direct tv hd receiver in my home but i use a scantenna outdoor antenna for my scanner.can you actually run coax from the back off the receiver to the scanner an pick stuff up?
My TV tower in Appin the bigest VHF,UHF para 7ft antenea with the Blonder-Tongue mast mounted pre-amp [mast mounted pre-amp] could pick up london police and fire before they went digital very easly, the only problem with using the tv tower is that you have to move the rotor in the right direction, most signals come from London anyways so it was not much of a problem. Again it is important if you want to use a pre-amp, it has to be mast mounted, inline pre-amp a waste of money. Check Blonder-Tongue lab's for the proper pre-amp, big time difference.
digitalanalog
Active Member
Without a doubt, this is the best answer to this thread so far.
When are people going to STOP using the word(s) BEST.........................There is NO SUCH THING
When are people going to STOP using the word(s) BEST.........................There is NO SUCH THING
JLM7424
Member
Do you think that would connect to a BNC ? I would like to try
Correct, there is no best antenna, putting up the biggest antenna you can get with the most powerful pre-amp can cause more problems of multi frequencies interferring with one another giving almost no signal at all. But if you lived in a very low populated radio transmission area's like way up in Northern Ontario, you will need the biggest.
During my TV tower bussiness, I experimented with the pre-amp, mast mounted that had 50db gain, in theroy makes the mast 30 times bigger, we couldnt get nothing in the VHF and UHF frequencies. We normally in this area of southern Ont used 15db-18db, makes the mast approx 10 times bigger or I should say it would be the same as using a mast that was 10 times bigger, and had good reception.
What is most important is very high quality coax, with low line loss in the higher frequency range approx 800mega hertz, usually if it is good at that frequency then the coax is good for all the lower frequencies also.
The question was, what is the best antenna for his area is not a unreasonable question.
During my TV tower bussiness, I experimented with the pre-amp, mast mounted that had 50db gain, in theroy makes the mast 30 times bigger, we couldnt get nothing in the VHF and UHF frequencies. We normally in this area of southern Ont used 15db-18db, makes the mast approx 10 times bigger or I should say it would be the same as using a mast that was 10 times bigger, and had good reception.
What is most important is very high quality coax, with low line loss in the higher frequency range approx 800mega hertz, usually if it is good at that frequency then the coax is good for all the lower frequencies also.
The question was, what is the best antenna for his area is not a unreasonable question.
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acepilot340
Member
Why would anyone, other than a highly experienced HAM operator, be looking for antennas that can pull in transmissions hundreds of miles away. I am not a HAM fan, but I understand the importance of being able to transmit long distances in emergency situations when all other communications are jammed.
As for myself, I mainly monitor the local county sheriff and fire because when something crazy happens like a fire or severe weather in my area its very interesting to know whats happening around the town. Just last spring the county SOG (SWAT) was at a standoff just down the block from me, it was the most interesting radio traffic I ever heard live, and it was happening in my own neighborhood. I just don't see the point of listening to public safety transmissions from hundreds of miles away where its just meaningless irrelevant radio traffic.
So If you are like me and have a portable scanner, the Radioshack $20 800mhz antenna will get the job done just fine.
As for myself, I mainly monitor the local county sheriff and fire because when something crazy happens like a fire or severe weather in my area its very interesting to know whats happening around the town. Just last spring the county SOG (SWAT) was at a standoff just down the block from me, it was the most interesting radio traffic I ever heard live, and it was happening in my own neighborhood. I just don't see the point of listening to public safety transmissions from hundreds of miles away where its just meaningless irrelevant radio traffic.
So If you are like me and have a portable scanner, the Radioshack $20 800mhz antenna will get the job done just fine.
For me, I hooked up to the tower that was there when I bought the place, works quite well, second reason is most the transmissions in my area is from a tower 20 miles away, and broat casted back to my area again,the local PD went Mototrbo so that's game over, but for me listening to transmissions from more then 30 mile's away does not interest me much.
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I could not agree more. I dont understand listening that far away. For the most part, i like to always know what town im in so i can switch the scanner to that freq/TG. i occasionally listen to denver and LAPD[live feed] purely for entertainment purposes. Other than that, i only want to know what is happening in the jurisdication im currently in. And very true, get the 800mhz RS antenna. i can hear conventional freqs 15-30 miles away sometimes with it. which is PLENTY. but if you insist on a large antenna for best range, search for a general purpose external antenna. or something more specific if you just want to scan say only the 800mhz range.
acepilot340 said:
I could not agree more. I dont understand listening that far away. For the most part, i like to always know what town im in so i can switch the scanner to that freq/TG. i occasionally listen to denver and LAPD[live feed] purely for entertainment purposes. Other than that, i only want to know what is happening in the jurisdication im currently in. And very true, get the 800mhz RS antenna. i can hear conventional freqs 15-30 miles away sometimes with it. which is PLENTY. but if you insist on a large antenna for best range, search for a general purpose external antenna. or something more specific if you just want to scan say only the 800mhz range.
ddemmers
Member
In my humble very over simplified opinion. Distance = heigth, clarity = quality. you want good clear signals from a distance. good quality antenna and get it up as high as you can. also quality doesnt necessarily mean most expensive.
I agree did a lot of towers in my bussiness and some of those had to be taken down just to clean all connections, straighten elements etc, and very high quality coax for the frequencies you need, a good pre-amp for T.V anyway's, I am still in favor of a mast mounted pre-amp. Again depends on your area etc.
k9rzz
Member
Okay, so there's no 'BEST' ... will these suffice as a substitute though?
I mean, a guy's got to start somewhere, right??
So, just put up what you can, for now, and when it starts looking like one of these, then you can stop.
I mean, a guy's got to start somewhere, right??
So, just put up what you can, for now, and when it starts looking like one of these, then you can stop.
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Roflmao. k9rzz, i lol'd at that. im totally doing that. anyone wanna pitch in a few million dollars to the cause?
Roflmao. k9rzz, i lol'd at that. im totally doing that. anyone wanna pitch in a few million dollars to the cause?
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right. along with weight, your strength, and angle "thrown up". if you can calculate those, you can decide what is the best antenna "for you". XD
n4yek said:
right. along with weight, your strength, and angle "thrown up". if you can calculate those, you can decide what is the best antenna "for you". XD
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