Antenna info needed

[Richardneu316]

where and whats the very Best moble or base Scanner Antenna to get for 30mhz to 800mhz thanks

[n5ims]

You need to think about what you really want out of your antenna and ask about that. Your "Best" and my "Best" may not be anywhere near the same. Do you want the best range (you'll give up wide frequency coverage and end up with signals from only a single direction for that)? Do you want the best "stealthyness" (you'll give up frequency range and performance with that one)? Do you want the best frequency range (you'll give up performance and small size for that)? Do you want an all around antenna (you'll suffer with the various compromises with those choices)?

An antenna is generally designed around a fairly small frequency range and based on that design ends up with factors like size and performance based on those choices. It's possible to combine a few ranges into a single antenna, but that forces compromises that may make the antenna work better in some areas and worse in others. An antenna with a very wide frequency range (like the 30 - 800 MHz range you're asking for) forces some very large compromises into that design so you get minimal performance and other factors to allow it to work over that large of a range.

The largest compromises with many antenna designs come when you add the VHF-Low band (30 - 100 MHz or so) into the mix. Unless you really need that range you should eliminate it or you'll be stuck with a large low performance antenna. Eliminating that one band opens quite a few options that will give you a much smaller antenna or one that will perform quite a bit better ofer the other band(s) you want to listen to.

[Richardneu316]

Ok. Thanks. Well. I need one that picks up 700mhz. To 800mhz as all the law here uses OHIO MARCS

[W8RMH]

For wide band Larsen NMO150/450/800 - $29.95 : The Antenna Farm.

In central Ohio 99% of what I listen to is 700/800. I use a Laird 760-870 MHz Phantom Antenna on a mag mount and it works great on 700/800 only.

[Richardneu316]

Ok thanks

[RonnieUSA]

Originally Posted by W8RMH

For wide band Larsen NMO150/450/800 - $29.95 : The Antenna Farm.

In central Ohio 99% of what I listen to is 700/800. I use a Laird 760-870 MHz Phantom Antenna on a mag mount and it works great on 700/800 only.

Those look like good antennas, but You have to pay extra for the mount with cable.
I think that a little deceptive on their part, You see $29.99, and not bad, till you read more down the page, and see that You have to have a mount, another $30.00, now the price doesn't look so good.

Why do they do this?

[Richardneu316]

I am useing a Spectrum force sfa 201b right now and it does pretty good

[n5ims]

Originally Posted by RonnieUSA

Those look like good antennas, but You have to pay extra for the mount with cable.
I think that a little deceptive on their part, You see $29.99, and not bad, till you read more down the page, and see that You have to have a mount, another $30.00, now the price doesn't look so good.

Why do they do this?

The mount is a standard one that will mate with hundreds of different antenna designs. You buy the mount once and swap antennas out as you desire. For example, around town, I may use a very short antenna to allow me to go in and out of a garage without issues. When on a trip, I may use a much longer gain type antenna to get good signal coverage on the highway between major cities. When I reach my destination and don't want any antenna showing, I simply remove what's there and put on a "dummy cap". Perhaps I'm going from an area that uses an 800 MHz trunking system and going to stay in an area that uses the VHF-Low freqencies for their communications. Simple, swap out that 800 MHz antenna with a VHF-Low band one and I'm set!

To accomplish this feat is quite easy, unscrew one antenna and screw the other on. This is much easier than unhooking the old antenna from the radio, pulling the old cable out of the way (cutting myself when it gets caught as it always does), removing the old antenna, coiling everything so I can put it into the trunk. Finding the other antenna, sticking it on the roof, routing that antenna's cable (those coils make it a real pain to route), notice that I left the adapter on the other antenna so go back to the trunk and fetch it, bang my head on the dash trying to reach the antenna connector on the radio, swear, hook the other antenna up to the radio, bang my head again getting out, swear again, turn on the scanner.

[reconrider8]

if you want to put some good money down grab a austin ferret yes its kinda expensive but its a great all around antenna