I live in the Portland, Oregon area of Mt. Scott. I use various scanners and would like to get the most out of them. Problem is apartment complex does not allow outside antennas. What are my options besides the ones that came with the scanner. Some of them have the motarola type antenna. Thank you
Apartment
- Thread starter roguewarrior1959
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Marcy57
Active Member
Your question got me thinking of a antenna ..called Desktop Discone...looks cool! wonder if it works ?
I came across it and never seen anything like that before ! but know nothing about it but I may be
in your situation in the future so thanks for posting the question...best of luck 73,s Marcy
I came across it and never seen anything like that before ! but know nothing about it but I may be
in your situation in the future so thanks for posting the question...best of luck 73,s Marcy
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One of the things you can do original poster is get a good quality mini- discone or a multiband ground plane and mount it on a floor lamp that you can purchase at Walmart, as long as it can hold the weight of the antenna. Get yourself no more than 10 ft of low loss coax like LMR 400 or rg8U that is double shielded.
You could move it around different locations because of the 8- 10 ft of coax, you can rotate it to maximize your coverage.
Some people use a tripod also.. right Marcy?😉 and are lucky enough to have a deck they can mount it on.
You could move it around different locations because of the 8- 10 ft of coax, you can rotate it to maximize your coverage.
Some people use a tripod also.. right Marcy?😉 and are lucky enough to have a deck they can mount it on.
Marcy57
Active Member
Yes Bob fortunate my landlord lets me put a tripod on the deck but some apts. like a 17 story high rise I use to live in there was nothing so something like that pictured might work have no idea really not looking forward to it though!
Marcy
Marcy
Marcy57
Active Member
I,m sure the OP will get some good responses on here with RR posters in that situation...Marcy
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I think it was Whistler had some desktop antennas and one looked like a discone.. they were around for a while and then they weren't and then they went out of business.
Does anybody remember if they worked or not and I think they were marketed by another company and not made by Whistler do a search op, might be worthwhile.
As far as mounting a base antenna on a standing lamp or tripod in an apartment the type of material that you have for insulation, your location within the building and even a coating that is used on some windows for insulation can affect performance. I'm going to look for a photo if I still have it of a long time ago of a setup that I used for a while.
Do you have a balcony? A large potted plant...real or fake...might make an effective camouflage for a small no-radial vertical.
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Hey original poster, I still have a photo of the antenna, I attached a broom handle to the floor lamp, it worked best by a window, this was the old Radio Shack Sputnik ground plane that has the extra two prongs added.. it actually worked pretty good.
IC-R20
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I use one of these stuck to the top of the window as high as I can get it Workman Scan4 Scanner Antenna SC1
They used to make one on scannermaster with a BNC female mount on the end so you could put whatever HT antenna you wanted on but they went out of production just as I went to buy one. I was surprised though when it actually picks up pretty good, I like to do business band monitoring and can hear the little 2 watt itinerant HTs quite a ways out. It's even better when you're on the 2nd floor of the apartment building or higher, I've also taken it to use in hotels and public library seating that overlooked a shopping center before.
They used to make one on scannermaster with a BNC female mount on the end so you could put whatever HT antenna you wanted on but they went out of production just as I went to buy one. I was surprised though when it actually picks up pretty good, I like to do business band monitoring and can hear the little 2 watt itinerant HTs quite a ways out. It's even better when you're on the 2nd floor of the apartment building or higher, I've also taken it to use in hotels and public library seating that overlooked a shopping center before.
What are you looking to listen to? General or specific? What bands? Which way is what you looking to listen to in relation to the apartment windows?
tvengr
Well Known Member
Do you have access to an attic?
Just general. No attic and the balconey is on the other side of the apartment. The window is basicly in the same direction as the towers.
Withe the number of scanners I have the standard antennas just make a muddled mess.
Right now it is a combination of the ones that look like a bowtie taped to the window and the ones that came with the scanner.
Withe the number of scanners I have the standard antennas just make a muddled mess.
Right now it is a combination of the ones that look like a bowtie taped to the window and the ones that came with the scanner.
ecps92
Member
I've used that for various applications as well as the old "Window Clip/Over the Window"I use one of these stuck to the top of the window as high as I can get it Workman Scan4 Scanner Antenna SC1
They used to make one on scannermaster with a BNC female mount on the end so you could put whatever HT antenna you wanted on but they went out of production just as I went to buy one. I was surprised though when it actually picks up pretty good, I like to do business band monitoring and can hear the little 2 watt itinerant HTs quite a ways out. It's even better when you're on the 2nd floor of the apartment building or higher, I've also taken it to use in hotels and public library seating that overlooked a shopping center before.
MFJ-310, HT WINDOW MOUNT CLIP, BNC
MFJs Window MountClip gets your antenna outside where it can radiate freely takes away the shielding effect of your car and gives maximum radiated power which increases signal strength and signal reception in busy areas. Its firmly held in place when you roll up your window for a super lock...
mfjenterprises.com
With a Dual-Band Antenna, I've got reception for quite a distance (YMMV) and you may need to experiment with the antenna bands
I have the D200R, which is similar to this. Works ok for indoor use.
Once you find an antenna that works for your needs, you could get something like this and feed one antenna to multiple scanners.
But I would need one with bnc connectorsOnce you find an antenna that works for your needs, you could get something like this and feed one antenna to multiple scanners.
Here is a picture of the actual antenna that @Marcy57 was referring to.
A quick summary of the antenna - it is a "jack of all trades and a master of none" !!
The cost is around $90.00 plus shipping and tax.
If I am scanning VHF Airband frequencies and I use a telescopic antenna set to 24 inches (correct length of VHF air band), the telescopic antenna will be about 20% better than the "all in one antenna".
If I am scanning 145MHz ham or 155MHz police/fire or 160MHz railroads and set the telescopic antenna to 18 inches, the telescopic antenna is about 25% better. Also if I tune in a very strong NOAA Weather tower (162.400) that is 8 miles from my house, the telescopic antenna is still noticeably giving me a stronger signal.
Same relationship seems to follow in the 450MHz and 800MHz bands.
Where this antenna would be better is obviously if you are scanning a wide variety of bands.
The antenna (in my picture) is sitting on a metal pizza pan so I can easily move it around to different places in the house. The antenna has a big magnetic base so you can attach it to the roof of a car but they warn you that the car shouldn't be moving because the base won't hold it to a moving car. The soft drink can is to give you some idea of the size of the antenna, the antenna is not easy to put inside of a car to move it around and it needs something relatively large to set it on.
A quick summary of the antenna - it is a "jack of all trades and a master of none" !!
The cost is around $90.00 plus shipping and tax.
If I am scanning VHF Airband frequencies and I use a telescopic antenna set to 24 inches (correct length of VHF air band), the telescopic antenna will be about 20% better than the "all in one antenna".
If I am scanning 145MHz ham or 155MHz police/fire or 160MHz railroads and set the telescopic antenna to 18 inches, the telescopic antenna is about 25% better. Also if I tune in a very strong NOAA Weather tower (162.400) that is 8 miles from my house, the telescopic antenna is still noticeably giving me a stronger signal.
Same relationship seems to follow in the 450MHz and 800MHz bands.
Where this antenna would be better is obviously if you are scanning a wide variety of bands.
The antenna (in my picture) is sitting on a metal pizza pan so I can easily move it around to different places in the house. The antenna has a big magnetic base so you can attach it to the roof of a car but they warn you that the car shouldn't be moving because the base won't hold it to a moving car. The soft drink can is to give you some idea of the size of the antenna, the antenna is not easy to put inside of a car to move it around and it needs something relatively large to set it on.
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With my location which is up the hill that the towers are on, and I am probably about a mile down the hill from them, your set up would be ideal for my location. NOAA from the portland airport comes booming in all the time. Do you know if they make a antenna with a motarola end that either has adhesive or suction cups to stick on a window ?
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That appears to be the antenna that Whistler was selling for a while but made by another vendor.. it had mixed reviews but if you can find one it's worth a try.
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