Dual BNC connectors or more?

[737mech]

I don't know if this has been posted yet by my question to all the scanner companies is this, "why not put more than one bnc connector on the scanner so we can use band specific antennas and avoid the problems that happen with two antennas?" Or four for that matter?

Is it just me but this seems like a better fix than having to buy a coupler diplexer or whatever? If my stereo receiver can have eight inputs why not my scanner? Quite frankly my stereo {sony 5.1 receiver} cost half that of the new digital scanners. It can't be that hard to implement.

 

[kc2rgw]

You need a switch for that, whether it is internal or external doesn't matter much....until the switch breaks.

Much easier to just replace an external antenna switch than deal with a failed internal component design.

I'd rather pick the switch I need or want vs pay for one that I may not use, but could still fail on me anyway.

 

[bctrl1]

You need a switch for that, whether it is internal or external doesn't matter much....until the switch breaks.

If designed properly there is absolutely no risk of switch failure. In fact, there is already a bank of PIN diode switches on the front end of the scanner to select the appropriate bandpass filters and to control the attenuator function. The failure rate here is incredibly low.

I've modified a few BC898t's for multiple antenna inputs using CMOS RF switches. Band switching was accomplished by tapping the filter select logic already in the scanner. It works rather well and I've found this to be less expensive than some of the filter based solutions, often with better isolation.

It wouldn't take much to design this into the scanner as a feature, but I suspect the typical scanner user would have little use for it.

 

[LarrySC]

Read this carefully::::::I use several frequency specific antennas. ALL are feed with RG-6 Coax. I also use standard "F" connector ABC switches. You can stack one ABC on top of another. Use one as ABC and the second as AB. Put a jumper from one switch to the other. NOW you have 5 antennas on one installation. In a Metro area you may not notice any signal loss. For one of my ant's I use a Stridesburg Multicoupler. Standard TV/VCR splitters work good as the freq rating is 900MHz. Each scanner has a special job. Each job has a special antenna. Bottom line. I can hear a frog fart in Fargo. It does not cost that much to install a GOOD WORKING antanna system. If you need details I can forward drawings and photos. larryscan@charter.net Good Luck.