best indoor antenna for uniden bct8

i would like to pick up a few of the surrounding counties for their fire/ems dispatch. but my antenna that came with it really sucks.

im renting so i cant have anything outside or mounted on the roof, already asked

thanks!

Just an FYI...when posting a question like that, it helps to let people know the frequency ranges you are interested in (low band, VHF-HI, UHF, 800, etc.). Some people won't bother to look up where you live (by the location in your profile) and figure it out. I remember you from your question about surrounding counties. Your home county and most of those around you that are non-digital are mainly VHF and UHF.

There are many options. You could do something as simple as a magnetic mount antenna like that from Radio Shack and put it on a cookie sheet, metal filing cabinet, window air conditioner or anything like that to create a ground plane.

If you have access to an attic (you didn't say), you could put an antenna up there and run coax down to the scanner. I just put an Antennacraft ST-3 antenna (ST3 Antennacraft Omni Base Antenna) in my attic and it is designed for VHF and UHF. I am very happy with it's performance...even on low band. You could also get a Larsen Tri-Band antenna and rig up some type of an NMO mount. You could also build you own OCFD (Off Center Fed Dipole) out of copper tubing and a few other supplies. Here is a link to the one I made...http://forums.radioreference.com/bu...67-my-homemade-off-center-dipole-antenna.html. It took like 30 minutes and only cost what the 1/2" copper tubing, a few PVC parts, a balun and some coax cost.

Lots of options. Hope this helps.

thanks for taking the time to reply to me, im still a newbie..lol

the frequency ranges that im looking for are 150-160 MHz and 450-460 MHz

unfortunately, no attic...

ill pick up a mag mount antenna, and try that on a metal surface.

Austin spectra is a pretty good antenna, i use one every once in a while, i believe there are a few people here in R R use them as well, maybe someone else can tell you more about them then me.

ok, ive been looking online for an hour now, but i cant find one mag mount antenna anywhere that has 150-160mhz and 450-470. of course im probably not looking in the right spot.

can someone link me to a couple different ones that i could buy with those frequencies? i would really appreciate that.

thanks

a ham dual band mag mt would work fine. Did your scanner come with the antenna that sticks to a window and you have some coax that attaches to the scanner. If not, take some rg58 coax, remove the outer jacket off 20" of the coax, make a loop around the top effectively leaving 18" of bare coax. You can loop the coax over a hook, then run what you need to the radio and have a bnc connector on it. I have one that works good. Or you could take some string and loop over a curtain rod so the antenna is vertical. The Uniden one has a suction cup thatattaches to a window. Amateur Mobile Antennas
this is a good source of antennas.

If you're going to start "rolling your own" with wire, this antenna in the RR Antenna Wiki is very efficient, inexpensive, and easy to make. There are LOTS of user reports/comments here on it if you search the RR forums. It doesn't need to be in the attic... you can hang it in a window. Scroll down to wire version (2nd one shown on the page):
Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki

m00ler03 said:

i would like to pick up a few of the surrounding counties for their fire/ems dispatch. but my antenna that came with it really sucks.

im renting so i cant have anything outside or mounted on the roof, already asked

thanks!

Click to expand...

I`m renting and can not put an antenna outside also.I got a RF King antenna.I hung it up in a window and it has made a big change in what my scanner(BC345CRS).Before I could get three NOAA weather channels and with the RF King antenna I get seven. The antenna cost $19.99 and shipping was $8.99,added a BNC with 8 foot cable for $3.00=$31.98.
Heres the web site
Home - RF KING SCANNER ANTENNAS

Tom

This 150/450/800 scanner antenna has a NMO connector, so you can use any NMO mag mount with it: Laird Tech ABSCANC

http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-tech-abscanc-1048.html

Try this one, I have it and it works great. ANT135BNC, INDOOR BASE OR MOBILE ALL BAND SCANNER ANTENNA, WITH BNC CONNECTOR - Scanner World - The Largest Dealer of Scanning Radios in the World

thanks for the replies. i went and bought this one from amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Tram-1185-Ama...045EQUBK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&tag=vglnk-c102-20

seems to be working pretty well so far, im able to hear the surrounding counties that i wanted to listen to.