154 & 851mhz Range Antennas

BigRedBox80 · Apr 11, 2016

I'm looking for an outdoor antenna to pick up 154mhz and 851mhz frequencies. This will be hooked up to a BCT15X scanner, hopefully less than 15' of coax.

The repeaters I'm receiving off of should be within a 15 mile radius of this antenna/radio.

Can you help point me towards the right setup?

mmckenna · Apr 11, 2016

There are a number of multi band antennas out there that would work.
A discone would technically work, but they tend to be poor performers when compared to antennas designed to work on specific frequencies. Since you specifically want to listen to 154MHz and 851MHz, it's pretty easy to find antennas that will actually exhibit some gain.

The basic Larsen 150/460/800 tri band mobile scanner antenna would probably work well for what you are looking for. A base mount kit would round it out well.

There are probably a few other good choices that others will offer up.

Coax shouldn't be a big deal for a run that short. I'm running a lot of 800MHz radios here at work with NMO mobile mounts with close to that much coax and have no issues pulling in our system from 20 miles or more away with a zero gain 1/4 wave antenna.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 12, 2016

I currently have a discone antenna at my current location but it's for general scanning, I want to focus in on these frequencies on another scanner now.

The antenna you mentioned seems like it would do the trick, what's the best mount for outdoors?

mmckenna · Apr 12, 2016

An 800MHz Yagi directional antenna is a good option in some cases. Especially if you have the stuff you want to listen to in one general direction.
A base 800MHz omni-directional antenna would be a useful option. It's not hard to get a couple of dB of gain in a relatively short antenna.
VHF is a bit more of a challenge since a high gain antenna is going to be bigger.

Combining VHF antenna and an 800MHz antenna into one coax feed takes some work, but it isn't out of the question.

Give a look at some of the dual band amateur radio antennas. They are VHF/UHF and not necessarily best suited for 800MHz, but they'll work.
The benefit is that if you ever decide to get your amateur radio license you can use that antenna for transmitting.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 12, 2016

mmckenna said:
An 800MHz Yagi directional antenna is a good option in some cases. Especially if you have the stuff you want to listen to in one general direction.
A base 800MHz omni-directional antenna would be a useful option. It's not hard to get a couple of dB of gain in a relatively short antenna.
VHF is a bit more of a challenge since a high gain antenna is going to be bigger.

Combining VHF antenna and an 800MHz antenna into one coax feed takes some work, but it isn't out of the question.

Give a look at some of the dual band amateur radio antennas. They are VHF/UHF and not necessarily best suited for 800MHz, but they'll work.
The benefit is that if you ever decide to get your amateur radio license you can use that antenna for transmitting.

There's actually a chance I might only need to RX on the 150MHz frequency, I'll find out more on Monday. If that's the case, I might go the Yagi route for better reception.

This antenna will be used at our Fire dept, not for my self, I have my license but haven't gotten outside of my UV-5R yet.

cmdrwill · Apr 12, 2016

Are you wanting to have a Station Monitor to feed speakers in the station?

BigRedBox80 · Apr 12, 2016

cmdrwill said:
Are you wanting to have a Station Monitor to feed speakers in the station?

I'll actually be monitoring for pages with TwoToneDetect. We have a radio that feeds speakers but that radio can also transmit and generate the page tones so we're trying to avoid that system completely.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 19, 2016

Ok, so I have no need to pickup the 800mhz freq as it's repeated over the 154mhz VHF frequency.

Would a Yagi still be the best bet here? Any suggestions on antennas?

riccom · Apr 20, 2016

Radio Shack 20-176 VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna is your best bet!

mmckenna · Apr 20, 2016

jwrrr said:
Ok, so I have no need to pickup the 800mhz freq as it's repeated over the 154mhz VHF frequency.

Would a Yagi still be the best bet here? Any suggestions on antennas?

Is it a single site you are trying to receive from?
Any other interference on that frequency?
How's the signal strength at your location?
Exceptionally long coax run between the antenna and the radio?
Budget?

Voyager · Apr 21, 2016

If VHF is your only concern, I would definitely look at the Cushcraft Ringo Ranger 2M antenna (which will work fine and can be easily tuned for 151 MHz). It's fairly inexpensive and works very well across the VHF band (and even works well on UHF and 800). Coupled with RG-8X would work fine.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 21, 2016

mmckenna said:
Is it a single site you are trying to receive from?
Any other interference on that frequency?
How's the signal strength at your location?
Exceptionally long coax run between the antenna and the radio?
Budget?

Single site
Not sure there is much interference, not positive.

Strength is fairly good, I think if we get up on the roof we'll be fine. We have a 100' tower that's in use for our primary radio but it's on the wrong side of the building. For what we're trying to accomplish doing RX only, I think we'll just use the top of the building (20') so coax will be less than 20'.

I'd like to stick under $100 for the antenna if we can but we can go up a little if needed.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 21, 2016

Voyager said:
If VHF is your only concern, I would definitely look at the Cushcraft Ringo Ranger 2M antenna (which will work fine and can be easily tuned for 151 MHz). It's fairly inexpensive and works very well across the VHF band (and even works well on UHF and 800). Coupled with RG-8X would work fine.

I'd like to keep the antenna smaller, if possible. As I mentioned right before this, we have a tower we can attach to where this wouldn't be as big of an issue but that will greatly increase our coax distance.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 21, 2016

riccom said:
Radio Shack 20-176 VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna is your best bet!

Looks like this guy was only $25 when it was sold, for that price I'd give it a try if I could find one.

mmckenna · Apr 21, 2016

jwrrr said:
Single site
Not sure there is much interference, not positive.

Strength is fairly good, I think if we get up on the roof we'll be fine. We have a 100' tower that's in use for our primary radio but it's on the wrong side of the building. For what we're trying to accomplish doing RX only, I think we'll just use the top of the building (20') so coax will be less than 20'.

I'd like to stick under $100 for the antenna if we can but we can go up a little if needed.

I don't think you need a yagi for that. Yagi antennas are good if you have a weak signal or are trying to null out some interference from another location on the same frequency. I think a basic VHF vertical would probably work fine. Doesn't need to be expensive.

Voyager · Apr 22, 2016

jwrrr said:
I'd like to keep the antenna smaller, if possible. As I mentioned right before this, we have a tower we can attach to where this wouldn't be as big of an issue but that will greatly increase our coax distance.

Just a regular Ringo, then, or a VHF quarter wave ground plane.

If you really want small and cheap, try a quarter wave mag mount on a nearby file cabinet.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 25, 2016

Most of what I'm looking at have NMO mounts. What is the best pole mount for NMO and is there any special sealing I need to do to protect against the elements?

Who are the reputable vendors for these things? Most hobbies that I'm in Amazon wins but I don't think their the best for this.

BigRedBox80 · Apr 25, 2016

Would something like these be the best route?

riccom · Apr 28, 2016

Or this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

BigRedBox80 · Apr 28, 2016

riccom said:
Or this?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

What do the horizontal antennas do for me in this case if I went with a LARSEN
NMO-150/450/800?

154 & 851mhz Range Antennas

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