Antenna Question

[warnberg]

I recently purchased a BCT15X and it came with a antenna, however most of this scanner will be used in my home and I was wondering if I could use the UHF/VHF antenna I have mounted in my attic and attach it to this scanner? Would it work or do I need a specialized antenna for the scanner?

I'm assuming I could just purchase a BNC to UHF connector

Thanks

 

[jrplmil]

Antenna

You can use your existing antenna and it should do a good job. I use home made jpoles and that's works for me.

 

[warnberg]

oh, it works well... I was just looking to expand my range a bit.

 

[TeRayCodA]

Yes.it works.It will work better,if you have the room,in the attic,to turn it vertical.It will be directional,but works a lot better that way.

 

[popnokick]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 6_1_3 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/536.26 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/6.0 Mobile/10B329 Safari/8536.25)

You absolutely can use the old TV antenna! And with only an F to BNC coax adapter. And don't worry about whether 50 or 75 ohm coax cable... your scanner receiver doesn't care. Just connect the adapter to the coax and plug it in to the scanner.
Good advice from TeRayCoda on turning the antenna to be vertical. And don't forget that TV yagi antennas are directional, so unless it is pointed mostly in the direction of what you want to hear you may need to turn it to a new direction. It's also possible to get signals "off the back of the beam", which is 180 degrees opposite the main receive direction.
But by all means hook it up and see what you get... And report back here!

 

[TeRayCodA]

I basically ran a TV antenna,on my tower,years ago,with a rotor.Cut a piece of lightweight pipe,to offset the antenna(vertical),about18"from the support pipe.It was great reception! no need to cut the elements,as the TV freqs are pretty close to land mobile radio freqs.Feed with some good quality RG6,and,you're good to go! no,your scanner does not look at impedance,as an issue.Try it,you'll love it!

 

[warnberg]

Well, I tried it.. not as good as I was hoping for but then again it's pointed in a direction were the signals where not coming from... There was a fire north of me yesterday, the antenna for the most part is pointed to the south so the signals were weak... I do have an old powered omni directional I may try as well.. or better yet I could program my scanner for the county to the south of me since that is where most of the puopulation resides anyway..

Thanks for all the replies..

Dave

 

[popnokick]

By "powered omni directional" do you mean a top of TV set rabbit ears with a loop and a built-in amplifier? That certainly will be better for omnidirectional use than the TV beam but will not have the gain. However, if you can also get it into the attic and powered up there it may be just the ticket.
If it has telescoping elements extend one of them to 18" and the other to 48" and you'll have an Off-Center Fed Dipole made from TV rabbit ears... something posted here on RR by another member who reported very good results.

 

[warnberg]

popnokick.. it was about 48" long and powered.... but I'll be darned if I can find it now...

 

[LtDoc]

You can use almost anything for an antenna without damaging the receiver. Especially for VHF/UHF stuff higher is better to some ridiculous extent. An outside antenna will 'hear' more than an indoor antenna. May not do as well as you may expect but it's still true. A resonant antenna, or one made specifically for the band of interest, will work 'better' than a random antenna. And it always depends on 'Momma Nature's propagation. (If you ever figure a way of making 'her' happy PLEASE share it? )
- 'Doc

 

[warnberg]

I'd love to put up an outdoor antenna.. problem is my HOA would scream... So I'm in search of an alternate solution..

Thanks all

 

[BillMcE]

Some great info here. I was planning on mounting a VHF directional antenna in my attic, but it only has the old 300 ohm twin lead screws on it. I have a 300 to 75 ohm converter & an F to BNC female adapter. I have tons of cable in various lengths with with male BNC connectors on each end. However, these cables are all 50 (actually 52) ohm. I was worried that using the 50 ohm cable would result in decreased reception, but you guys are saying it won't. That's great to know & will save me $$$ on buying new cable! Thanks guys.