KB9VBR Slim Jim

[sonm10]

Hello, i live in an apartment. i have been using a couple mfj 1724b as scanner antennas. im wanting to improve my antennas and have been looking at the kb9vbr slim jims, one for vhf and the other for uhf fed to a diplexer. My windows are 50" tall (48" counting blinds) and the vhf slim jim is 58" My question is are these decent antennas for scanner use and would the antenna hanging slightly below the window matter? (I really feel like the 1724s lack on vhf)

 

[jonwienke]

Slim jims are j-pole antennas tuned for a narrow frequency range, and aren't really suited for general scanning, where you're typically trying to receive multiple bands. You'll probably be better off with a discone on a speaker stand like this:

Indoor Discone Antenna Setup

For those who for whatever reason can't set up an outdoor antenna, this setup works quite a bit better than a ducky/whip. Antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QVPGKHU/ Stand: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E0PPG0/ The stand tubing is the exact right size to fit the antenna...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[KOK5CY]

I had 1 of those up at 15ft and it worked fine for the band's I listened to even 800 trunked and I was using rg6 . now I'm using a discone at the same height and using rg8x and my receiving has improved .

 

[JoshuaHufford]

I have one of his SlimJim antennas tuned to the railband, outside the performance is good, indoor it is not so great.

I've found indoors smaller antennas tuned to the frequency of interest work better such as a 1/4 wave or even a rubber duck as opposed to a large antennas. Just my own thought but I think the larger the antenna the more affected it is by items inside your house.