New guy needing help on antennas

[SCPD]

Ok, this new hobby of mine is coming along. I finally got good at Win500 and having a ball with that. Now I would like to jump into antennas. Right now I am using a RS mag mount scanner antenna mounted to the inside of the metal frame on my living room window and using a PRO-106. Picks up the stuff I listen to most of the time. However, sometimes my LED lights but no sound, other times I hear something but not words. So here is my question. I would like to install a new antenna on my house. I have read some threads on Discone VS Sputnik and got that the sputnik was the was to go. Also I have read some talk about mounting in the attic.....I am confused on this because I thought the point was to have it high and outside? I like the idea because I don't like the fact of having a antenna in sight of the street to detract from the curb appeal. Then the ground comes in to play. what is a ground plane? Does it need grounding? How? If I do mount on the outside how does this work during lighting? Should I unplug the scanner or antenna?

Here is some background on what I use my scanner for. 90% is used to scan my local Colorado Springs Fire Dept. and El Paso "red" fire channel that dispatches the surrounding town and suburb FD's. These are all trunked on the State of Colorado DTRS. 10% for other like Sheriffs office or State Patrol and some ambulance channels as well.

Some photos of "attic" mounted antennas would be helpful for me to see. Found a bunch on outside mounted. Also to keep the wife happy I don't have unlimited funds for the project however I don't want to spend money on crap.

Large question and I appreciate the help.

 

[n5ims]

Start small and cheap and work up from there until things work like you want them to. Since you're currently using a simple mag mount stuck to a window frame, chances are you have very little ground-plane for that antenna (basically you only have have of the necessary antenna there). Start by getting a steel cookie sheet or similar fairly large hunk of metal (round or square, it doesn't matter) around a foot diameter or 1 foot by 1 foot square or larger and stick your mag mount in the center and put it back into the same window. Chances are your signal should increase. You can probably borrow them from the kitchen to test with at no cost. Also good are large metal file cabinets, large metal shelves, or other items you may have around that are metal with large surface areas.

If that doesn't work then you can try the more difficult and more expensive options of an attic or outdoor antenna.

 

[W2NJS]

Two possible answers to the two problems you stated:

1. No sound but signal indicated on radio's readout: Wrong PL, DPL, or NAC.

2. Hear something but not words: Scrambled audio; an archaic method of "privatizing" a signal but still used in some places. If you were hearing an unprocessed P25 signal it would sound only like noise.

 

[popnokick]

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The mag mount mobile you've stuck on your window sill will benefit from an external ground plane - such as a cookie sheet- but it is unnecessary with the Sputnik or discone types of antennas.  An artificial ground plane is part of their design, regardless of whether mounted rooftop or in the attic.  If you can use the roof without upsetting the XYL or the neighbors, by all means do so.  But failing that ( and assuming you don't have a metal roof) the attic is your next best alternative.  I've gotta believe the roof or the attic is going to look better to your SO than the mag mount inside on the window sill.
Me?  I use an off- center fed dipole (OCFD) made from a TV balun transformer and 14 ga wire in the attic.  Multiple variations are pictured and described in a long thread here on RR.  Cheap (about $6 in Radio Crap or hardware store parts), simple to make, and works well.

 

[LtDoc]

The one thing that I can say will certainly help is height. You never get too much height till the feed line length attenuates things too much. I figure that's something like a 1/4 mile or so, you know?
I figure you do have a 'groundplane', maybe it's not in exactly the 'best' place, but it's working.
Inside antennas are always going to be 'less' than outside antennas. If that's all you can manage for whatever reason, then that's good anyway.
It sort of amounts to how much you are willing to pay for small 'improvements'. Using an antenna designed specifically for the band of interest is probably your best bet. That's more or less a matter of opinion, so take it for what it's worth.
Good luck.
- 'Doc