Excellent 800Mhz Antenna

[acyddrop]

I've gone through quite a few Antennas on my PSR-800 & 500 scanners trying to find one that pulled in signals from not only my city but the ones around me. I finally found a beauty and figured I'd pass this on, in case anyone was waffling on it or just looking for a darn good antenna. I got the 800MHz 2.5db gain Professional Portable SMA Antenna from Scanner Master, and I finally found a little slice of heaven. I have tried the GRECOM (nea RadioShack) 800MHz antenna and it was decent, but this thing sucks in the 800MHz signals like no ones business I've finally found antenna nirvana. It's not as inexpensive as the GRECOM/RS antenna but it outperforms it in every way.

If you own a PSR-800/500 and are thinking about getting one of these, I highly recommend you get the SMA version then obtain a BNC to SMA adapter (I got mine from Amazon because Scanner Master didn't have one that I could see). Apparently the BNC version of this antenna caused some angst with PSR-800/500 owners and the BNC jack on the radio. I just avoided the whole catastrophe and used the adapter (I can also attach my ham radio antennas this way too, though ironically the arrow II uses bnc...). I'm not trying to sell this antenna and have no affiliation with the maker nor Scanner Master but this is just a dang fine antenna for 800MHz.

You can have a peep at it here: https://www.scannermaster.com/800_MHz_2_5db_Portable_SMA_Antenna_p/14-541014.htm

Thanks for reading, 73s

 

[mkoronka]

It reminds me of the bag cell phone antenna's. Back in the 90's I had a bag phone and it looked very much like that. In fact if I dig deep enough I think I have one of those around the house some where.

 

[acyddrop]

You know, now that you mention it.. It does look a lot like the antenna that was on top of the Motorola brick phone maybe a bit taller. Ah the nostalgia. Now my cellphone does nearly everything my PC does and doesn't weigh 5lbs LOL.

It reminds me of the bag cell phone antenna's. Back in the 90's I had a bag phone and it looked very much like that. In fact if I dig deep enough I think I have one of those around the house some where.

 

[RoninJoliet]

Wonder how it would work on 700mgz, the Starcom towers here in Chicago area are 700mgz....

 

[acyddrop]

It doesn't mention 700MHz but it does mention it does well on 900MHz :/

Wonder how it would work on 700mgz, the Starcom towers here in Chicago area are 700mgz....

 

[Avery93]

I have the BNC version of this antenna (actual model number is EXE-806-BNX, made by Laird) and It works noticeably better than the OEM antenna on my PSR-500 at 700 MHz., although it doesn't seem to have quite the amount of gain that it does on 800 MHz. For 800 MHz it is without doubt the best antenna I have used yet.

It is a little tall, but I find that it is still very portable and looks very cool on my PSR-500. Also, some reviewers have said that this antenna caused a loosened BNC on their GRE radios, however I have had mine for almost 2 years and have had no problems; in fact the OEM antenna seems to require a little more effort to connect and disconnect than this antenna. Ironically, I did manage to break the BNC connector on the actual antenna, by trying to connect it to my Uniden 346XT using the entirely too "tight" BNC to SMA adapter that comes with the Uniden. It still seems to receive fine but the BNC spins freely inside the base of the antenna, meaning I have to pinch the base of the antenna every time I connect or disconnect it.

Also, I like ScannerMaster, and I have always bought my scanners from them; but they charge entirely too much for the Laird antennas they sell. I can buy most of them from Tessco for 1/2 to 1/3 the price ScannerMaster charges. Both the EXE-806-BNX and EXE-806-SM are a little over $15, almost half the price of ScannerMaster.

 

[acyddrop]

Wow the Tessco price is significantly lower, wish I'd known about that before hand. Oh well, I don't mind throwing a few bucks Scanner Masters way. With respect to it being tall. I agree it's taller than most of my other portable scanner antennas, however it weighs quite a bit less than the GRE 800MHz antenna and performs better. It also looks much "cooler" than the GRE 800MHz antenna (not that cool looks make it a better antenna by themselves). All I can say is this Laird antenna performs flawlessly in this location I'm at. I can hear Boca Raton (next City over and on digital) and I'm by the Boyton City line (a pretty good distance for Boca). I could hear Boca before but only with 1 or 2 bars 'illuminated' on my PSR800 and the digital would do that digital distortion thing, now I get 3-4 bars almost constantly from Boca and virtual now digital distortion even from the portables.

I have the BNC version of this antenna (actual model number is EXE-806-BNX, made by Laird) and It works noticeably better than the OEM antenna on my PSR-500 at 700 MHz., although it doesn't seem to have quite the amount of gain that it does on 800 MHz. For 800 MHz it is without doubt the best antenna I have used yet.

It is a little tall, but I find that it is still very portable and looks very cool on my PSR-500. Also, some reviewers have said that this antenna caused a loosened BNC on their GRE radios, however I have had mine for almost 2 years and have had no problems; in fact the OEM antenna seems to require a little more effort to connect and disconnect than this antenna. Ironically, I did manage to break the BNC connector on the actual antenna, by trying to connect it to my Uniden 346XT using the entirely too "tight" BNC to SMA adapter that comes with the Uniden. It still seems to receive fine but the BNC spins freely inside the base of the antenna, meaning I have to pinch the base of the antenna every time I connect or disconnect it.

Also, I like ScannerMaster, and I have always bought my scanners from them; but they charge entirely too much for the Laird antennas they sell. I can buy most of them from Tessco for 1/2 to 1/3 the price ScannerMaster charges. Both the EXE-806-BNX and EXE-806-SM are a little over $15, almost half the price of ScannerMaster.

 

[kf4uuz]

While reading this thread, I was thinking this is the exact antenna that I need.
So I went to Tessco's site to order one, only to find out they are out of stock.
Then I went to ScannerMaster to order one: They are currently sold out as well.
I'll have to wait to see who gets it back in stock first.

I am sure this thread has a lot to do with both places being sold out at the same time.

 

[acyddrop]

Oh that sucks! I didn't even look at the stock at Tessco because I have two of these now, and I'm afraid I bought the last one from ScannerMaster just last week. In fact, when I went to order it on Wednesday night it said out of stock, I went back Thursday morning and they had stock again I snatched my second one up and then they went out of stock yet again. I'm guessing they don't exactly stock pile these.

While reading this thread, I was thinking this is the exact antenna that I need.
So I went to Tessco's site to order one, only to find out they are out of stock.
Then I went to ScannerMaster to order one: They are currently sold out as well.
I'll have to wait to see who gets it back in stock first.

I am sure this thread has a lot to do with both places being sold out at the same time.

 

[RoninJoliet]

So of all i have read here about the Laird antenna will it fit OK on the Uniden BNC adapter if i buy the BNC connection rather than SMA....TY...

 

[RoninJoliet]

Just purchased from SMaster the EXE-806-SMA as it is back in stock....

 

[reconrider8]

https://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=19714&eventPage=2 i got this antenna as a base not sure how it is yet since im in the process of buying a tower and getting it up

 

[GTO_04]

Does this make the 396XT top heavy? I would be worried about the 396XT tipping over due to the antenna length and mass. If not I may have to try this one.

I used to have a right angle version of this antenna but the swivel end broke.

GTO_04

 

[RoninJoliet]

reconrider8, let us know how it works, looks easy to mount and u would want to use maybe LMR400 lowloss coax with it....

 

[reconrider8]

yea i got some 400 on the way as we speek from scanner master 75' of it but im not sure if im going to need that much tho going to be somewhere in the range of 30'

 

[acyddrop]

It's taller but it's extremely light weight given that fact. I haven't done any measurements with respect to weight but it feels lighter than the GRE (Radioshack) 800MHz antenna. My GRE PSR-800 doesn't feel unstable with this antenna on it in any way.

Does this make the 396XT top heavy? I would be worried about the 396XT tipping over due to the antenna length and mass. If not I may have to try this one.

I used to have a right angle version of this antenna but the swivel end broke.

GTO_04

 

[acyddrop]

It looks rugged and seems like (more or less) the outdoor big boy version of the one that screws into your radio. I'd be interested to know how it works out. 75 feet of coax seems like a lot to me.

What I've taken to doing is buying uncut/unprepared coax and just stripping it and putting on the crimp connectors (whatever connector the situation calls for). The tools to do that are cheap as chips on eBay (probably get a stripper and a crimper for under 30 bucks). Th LMR400 is about 49 cents/foot on ebay last I looked and the connectors for the ends aren't very expensive either.

https://www.tessco.com/products/displayProductInfo.do?sku=19714&eventPage=2 i got this antenna as a base not sure how it is yet since im in the process of buying a tower and getting it up

 

[reconrider8]

Learn as you go i guess i needa get a stripper and all

 

[acyddrop]

The stripping coax with the tool is easy, just slide the coax into the blade and spin the tool around. You'll get a perfectly prepared end. Crimping is also relatively straight forward, but you can videos on YouTube that will familiarize you with the basics. I'd never done it before two months ago, but it was a whole lot easier than making custom RJ45 ethernet cables (which I've done for 15 or 20 years)

Learn as you go i guess i needa get a stripper and all

Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2

 

[GTO_04]

It's taller but it's extremely light weight given that fact. I haven't done any measurements with respect to weight but it feels lighter than the GRE (Radioshack) 800MHz antenna. My GRE PSR-800 doesn't feel unstable with this antenna on it in any way.

Thanks, that is the information I was looking for. If it's lighter than the GRE it's worth giving a try.

GTO_04