Dont know if this is possible

[crackofdawnpawn]

I have a PRO 96.
Is there anyway to build an antenna or buy. One that will will pick up space shuttle lauches and also long distance transmissions. Or do I need a PRE AMP ? I know nothing about monitoring Military and Space shuttle stuff. I just want to know what i need. I figured since SW recievers work good for that stuff there has to be a way for a handheld scanner to do it also. Tell if I am blowing wind backwards or not. LOL. There is always someone on here with a great deal of knowledge of this.

 

[kb5udf]

Monitoring the Shuttle

There are a myriad ways to do this. You can check out this excellent FAQ:
http://home.flash.net/~av8tor/radios/shuttle.htm

By far the easiest way would be if a local ham repeater usually in the 2 meter (144-148)
range is rebroadcasting shuttle audio. This is done in many locations.

As for pre-amps, my opinion would be that for something like handheld scanner,
the vast majority of them would probably do more harm than good. I have also read
but am not certain that most shuttle coms are part of an overall digital data stream,
and are often accessed by hobbiests via the NASA Select, sattelite TV channel.

However, should the shuttle be transmitting in the 140-300 mhz range, and provided you
are under it's oribtal line of site 'footprint', (VERY roughly a circle 500-800 miles in
diameter), you can probably hear it with any reasonable base scanner antenna. As long as said base antenna doesn't overload your scanners front end.

Jean B.