Need some help

[SShuster221]

Fellow scanner buffs. Looking for some help. I drive a 2004 Mazda 3 hatchback. So i have very limited antenna locations. I was thinking of installing a AM/FM to BNC adapter. My friend has one and it works very well. However his scanner is a BC350C. I would be installing a BCT-15 in the dash of the car. Trying to pic up the Ocean City 800mhz system.
as well as some conventional when I go out of town.


Any help would be great. I will post pics of the installation.

Thanks in advance.

 

[W4KRR]

Do you mean an adapter to use your car's AM/FM antenna for the scanner? There are couplers available that are designed to do just that, allow you to use the car radio antenna for your scanner as well as keeping it for the car's AM/FM radio. I have never used one, but reports I have read give them mixed reviews. Some say they work great, some say they don't work well at all.

Because of the design of a car's AM/FM antenna, they will probably work better on VHF than they would at higher frequencies. You mentioned monitoring an 800MHz system, I would use a dedicated (seperate) antenna designed for the 800MHz band. Any mobile antenna made for cellphones should provide better results than your car's AM/FM antenna.

 

[key2_altfire]

The only issue I can see here is if your Mazda3 uses a "diversity" antenna. And even then, it might not really be an issue.

My first scannermobile was an '81 Ford Fairmont. The stock FM antenna plugged right into my scanner (a 16-channel Bearcat BC560 XLT). The antenna itself was a standard stainless steel whip, which I cut to 1/4 wavelength for VHF. Worked great!

If your Mazda's antenna is joined to its base with a threaded connection you might be able to get some threaded rod that matches and play with the antenna tuning.