Antenna

[scannerprogrammingofLvKs]

Can a person use a CB antenna for a Police scanner ? even though the CB antenna has to be adjusted with a SWR meter.

 

[StoliRaz]

Can a person use a CB antenna for a Police scanner ? even though the CB antenna has to be adjusted with a SWR meter.

There's some old threads on here where people reported it did surprising well on VHF/UHF but no good on 800 It probably depends on your setup, my guess is the car acting as a ground plane is what makes or breaks it. Personally I think it would be a fun experiment but wouldn't want it as my everyday antenna. A $10 HYS antenna off Amazon would probably give more consistent results

 

[rk911]

sure...you can use just about anything as an antenna. in my car i've used the car radio antenna. at home i've playes with all sorts of things from paper clips to clothes hangers. how effective that antenna will be is quite a different matter. i wouldd think an approrpriate back-of-the-set antenna would be far more useful than a CB antenna.

 

[mmckenna]

Can a person use a CB antenna for a Police scanner ? even though the CB antenna has to be adjusted with a SWR meter.

The 'adjusted with a SWR meter." thing only matters if you are transmitting with the antenna. That's to make it resonate at the frequencies you are transmitting on. Since you'll be using the antenna well outside it's resonance, it won't matter if it's tuned or not.

It'll work, as in it'll pick up something. Question will be: How well?. It will not hurt your scanner to give it a try.

 

[scannerprogrammingofLvKs]

The 'adjusted with a SWR meter." thing only matters if you are transmitting with the antenna. That's to make it resonate at the frequencies you are transmitting on. Since you'll be using the antenna well outside it's resonance, it won't matter if it's tuned or not.

It'll work, as in it'll pick up something. Question will be: How well?. It will not hurt your scanner to give it a try.

Thank you much for the reply

 

[iMONITOR]

Can a person use a CB antenna for a Police scanner ? even though the CB antenna has to be adjusted with a SWR meter.

C.B. antennas are designed for the frequencies in the chart below. Normally most of what you'll be monitoring with a scanner radio is from 108~900MHz, so a C.B. antenna would not perform well.

 

[Rt169Radio]

I have used CB antennas before for scanning, they work actually well on VHF low and high band freqs. I have tried it before with a Shakespeare "Big Stick" antenna and a Antron A-99.

 

[iMONITOR]

I have used CB antennas before for scanning, they work actually well on VHF low and high band freqs. I have tried it before with a Shakespeare "Big Stick" antenna and a Antron A-99.

But you'll never know what you're missing. But if it receives what you want it to then I guess that's all you need.

 

[Rt169Radio]

But you'll never know what you're missing. But if it receives what you want it to then I guess that's all you need.

Very true, I just used them too see how they would perfom with VHF low and high.