Antenna question

[N0FPY]

What base antenna would someone recommend for listening to the ARMER System. I will be moving to Dayton, MN next year and would want to hear Minneapolis as well as Hennepin & Ramsey Counties.

Also looking for recommendations for a low loss feed line to run about 75 feet of coax.

Thanks

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Do you know what the frequencies are?

 

[ofd8001]

I have had some excellent results with this antenna: D130NJ Diamond Super Discone Antenna | Scanner Master

It is really more than you need, as it is wide (or all) band and all you really need is something that will do 800 MHz. They also show LMR 400 cable, which I understand is about as good as it gets for scanner antennas.

Since you are in Hennepin County, you won't have issues with Hennepin East. Hennepin West may or may not work. Ramsey County the same.

I believe the Minneapolis NS site covers a little past the city limits, but not much. MPD 4th precinct units area known to operate on Hennepin East in some of their areas because Minneapolis NS is a little dicey up there.

I would expect no issues receiving Minneapolis City Center which is the subsystem used by state agencies and and EMS units.

 

[stmills]

In Dayton you should be able to receive Hennepin East, Hennepin West, Anoka without a struggle. I have picked up Minneapolis and City Center on a handheld in parts of Maple Grove, so you may not need a big build to get them in - depends on your structure. Ramsey will be the one you need an outside antenna for if you are set in getting the Ramsey towers- the thing to remember is that dispatch mains are usually carried by adjacent systems: Ramsey Mains are on the Hennepin and Anoka Towers, but city car to car often are not. Minneapolis is on its own tower and then the easiest rule of thumb is odd channels are on City Center and Even are on Hennepin East - Fire 1, Police 1&3 on City Center and Fire 2 & Police 2 are on Hennepin East.

 

[wogggieee]

If you have simulcast issues you might consider a yagi. I've had success reducing the amount of simulcast issues I have using yagis.

 

[CcSkyEye]

I have a Laird TRAB7603 in the very peak of my attic and it has been really good at grabbing ARMER sites miles away, both on my BCD996P2 and my G5.

 

[N0FPY]

Thank you all for the information. I will research some of the suggestions and see what I can come up with.

 

[N0FPY]

Do you know what the frequencies are?

800 MHZ range

 

[wcsd45]

Hello,
May also want to check out Comet DS-150S

Comet Antennas DS-150S Comet DS-150S Discone Base Antennas | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - Comet DS-150S Discone Base Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Discone Antennas at DX Engineering.

www.dxengineering.com

I went with it on cost (modestly cheaper), decent build, and power rating. Have done some 6M long distance FT8 on band opening. No tune necessary for FT8. It's kinda narrow bandwidth but tunable.
Love mine: using it for wideband scanning, 6 & 2M, 70cm Rx and Tx.
Mount is garage attic, LMR-400 feed-line, 75 ft-ish.

73, Chuck KC9QBY

 

[JoshuaHufford]

800 MHZ range

If the ONLY frequencies you will be receiving are in the 800MHz range, then I would go with an antenna designed for that range, especially over a discone.

https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/antennas-191/base-antennas-193/commercial-base-antennas-258/omni-directional-antennas-976/800mhz-smr-base-antennas-933/

Are the signals all coming from one direction? Then a yagi would probably be an even better choice.

For coax at 75ft, I would use LMR-400 at a minimum, you will have 3.1db of loss at 800MHz with that run. Of course this depends on how strong the signals you want to receive are. If they are right next door and strong you can probably get by with less.

 

[JASII]

Mike,


What radio will you be using? Is is a Uniden or Unication? If it is a Unication, there is a chance that you won't need an external antenna. If it is a Uniden, you probably will need one.

One thought is to go with a mobile antenna and a ground plane kit. As far as feedline goes, probably 9913 or LMR 400, minimum, for a run that long. As you know, there is a lot of loss at 800 MHz.

I actually use one of the mobile antennas, on a magnetic mount, on a pizza pan near my Unication. It does improve my signal, but it really isn't necessary for me. With ARMER, on a Unication, I can hear my sub-system and the surrounding sub-systems. I don't need to listen to more than that.


Jim

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-005891

Tram Land Mobile Base Ground Plane Kit 1465 - The Home Depot

This Tram Land Mobile Base Ground Plane Kit will convert your NMO mobile antenna into an Omni base station. It comes with 20.5 in. ground plane stainless steel radials and has a 200-Watt power rating and a 100 mph wind load. It is easy to install on any 2 in. pole or pipe.

www.homedepot.com

 

[N0FPY]

Mike,


What radio will you be using? Is is a Uniden or Unication? If it is a Unication, there is a chance that you won't need an external antenna. If it is a Uniden, you probably will need one.

One thought is to go with a mobile antenna and a ground plane kit. As far as feedline goes, probably 9913 or LMR 400, minimum, for a run that long. As you know, there is a lot of loss at 800 MHz.

I actually use one of the mobile antennas, on a magnetic mount, on a pizza pan near my Unication. It does improve my signal, but it really isn't necessary for me. With ARMER, on a Unication, I can hear my sub-system and the surrounding sub-systems. I don't need to listen to more than that.


Jim

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-005891

Tram Land Mobile Base Ground Plane Kit 1465 - The Home Depot

This Tram Land Mobile Base Ground Plane Kit will convert your NMO mobile antenna into an Omni base station. It comes with 20.5 in. ground plane stainless steel radials and has a 200-Watt power rating and a 100 mph wind load. It is easy to install on any 2 in. pole or pipe.

www.homedepot.com

Hi Jim,

It is for a Uniden. I am going to do some testing in the area before I decide what to install. It will have to go in the attic unfortunately.

Thanks, Mike

 

[bearcatrp]

Might want to consider the Diamond D220R. Its a mini discone that works fairly well. I used it in the winter in the house mounted on a floor lamp that I stripped down, mounted this close to the ceiling. Needed something until spring to put up my full size discone.

Diamond® Antenna ~ D220R

 

[ifco850]

I have a Laird TRAB7603 in the very peak of my attic and it has been really good at grabbing ARMER sites miles away, both on my BCD996P2 and my G5.


I like this idea for an antenna setup. When you say miles away, what is your estimated distance?

 

[lu81fitter]

The Antenna Farm has some good stuff. I've bought more than a few things from there.
For a good antennas, stay with some good brand name professional stuff like Laird, PCTEL, or Larsen. You'll pay a little more up front, but the quality and longevity of the antenna will be much better.
This would be something pretty good for a base antenna as long as you don't have a problem with simulcast.

www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-fg8240-9042

You may want to see how the area is for simulcast before your purchase in case you need to change things up.

 

[ofd8001]

Something I should have questioned, if you are using a Uniden scanner, is it an SDS model? If it is the x36 or x96 variety, there is a lot of simulcast in the Metro area. Having a "real good" antenna system is "real bad" for simulcast distortion. That's because too much signal is coming in that is a little out of sync resulting in garble.

 

[safdchief2]

Not trying to be a wiseguy... I'm in the northern suburbs and after trying a variety of antennas for my BCD996XT and BCD396XT, including a Yagi, discone and others, I have a bent paperclip stuck in the antenna port that works great.

 

[stmills]

The bent paper clip is a great antenna when you are in good range of a tower. Many of the others actually lead to problems when you have good signal strength. My everyday antenna on my 396T is actually a vhf/uhf ham ht antenna- does great in my area. When I get into heavier signal strength I have a 2”stubby.

 

[jonwienke]

The bent paper clip is a great antenna when you are in good range of a tower. Many of the others actually lead to problems when you have good signal strength. My everyday antenna on my 396T is actually a vhf/uhf ham ht antenna- does great in my area. When I get into heavier signal strength I have a 2”stubby.

That only works sometimes, in cases where using a crap antenna attenuates the signal just enough to isolate the signal from one transmitter, and bury the rest under the noise floor. It's not generally a good idea, particularly since some paper clips are larger than the SMA center pin, and jamming them in can damage the connector. Also using a crap antenna pretty much guarantees the simulcast system is the ONLY thing you can hear.

 

[stmills]

Call it Crap if you want but a paper clip unfolded to 3.33 inches is a 1/4 antenna for 853 MHz which is in the middle of many 800 MHz systems. If you are monitoring an 800 MHz digital trunked system a coverage standard of 90-95% coverage over an area either for Mobile or hand held was used. The systems I monitor are 95% hand held coverage outdoors at 5’ above ground- State of MN statewide is 95% coverage by mobile but some counties but out deeper coverage and went for 95% hand held. I focus my monitoring on my home county and adjacent counties and just tested my 396T with a 3.33” paper clip antenna and could receive 6 different systems inside my house. If I want to get signals from further away I just hook my 396T up to my amplified TV rabbit ears and can usually go another ring of counties away.