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lugoffman

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Do they make some sort of adapter to connect two or more scanners to one antenna.

And will it work well doing it this way ? and if it does were can I find one to connect three radios ?
 

af5rn

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You do NOT want to use a triplexer unless you are intentionally trying to separate your single signal into three different bands. Look closely at the triplexer and you will notice that each output cable is marked for a specific bandwidth. Your three bands are separated into individual cables. You do not get all three bands in all three cables. That is what a multicoupler is for, as noted in the thread Dave referred you to. Triplexers are made for people running three band-specific transmitters (whether one radio or three) off of a single antenna, not for multiband receivers.
 
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lugoffman

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af5rn said:
The type of antenna you are using is irrelevant. Only the coax connectors matter, and you can get adaptors for any of them.
Your right I forgot to say what type of connectors I had well the mag mount comes with the coax but at the end of my coax its the type of connector that screws on and then I got another connector thats a male on one end and bnc on the other end so what i did was put them together so my antenna will work on my handheld so will this work or is there somthing better I could get ? I only want to hook up three radios to one antenna if that will work
 
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af5rn

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Sorry for the confusion, you read and replied while I was changing my post. I had not at first realised that you were referring to a triplexer. Again, you need a multicoupler, not a triplexer. It's all in the sticky post you were previously referred to. Good luck!
 

lugoffman

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af5rn said:
Sorry for the confusion, you read and replied while I was changing my post. I had not at first realised that you were referring to a triplexer. Again, you need a multicoupler, not a triplexer. It's all in the sticky post you were previously referred to. Good luck!
Yea I looked in there it may be cheaper to buy two more antennas Lol !!!
looks like it's time to start drilling holes Lol !!
 

af5rn

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lugoffman said:
Yea I looked in there it may be cheaper to buy two more antennas Lol !!!
looks like it's time to start drilling holes Lol !!
Excellent points, both! If you have the room and patience for multiple antennas, then that is certainly a cheaper option that will perform just as well, if not better.

I don't know what kind of systems you are listening to, but if you are listening to a couple of different bands, you could benefit by using band specific antennae for each one. For instance, I plan to run four mobile scanners that listen exclusively to 800mhz systems off of one 800mhz antenna, and run the conventional scanners off of a VHU-UHF dual band gain antenna. The narrower the bandwidth of your antenna, generally the better performance you get.

Of course, a lot of people aren't in situations where they can separate their scanners by band, but if you can, it's a good way to go, performance wise. And if you're going to stick up multiple antennae, it just seems a waste to make them all the same, lol.
 

lugoffman

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af5rn said:
Excellent points, both! If you have the room and patience for multiple antennas, then that is certainly a cheaper option that will perform just as well, if not better.

I don't know what kind of systems you are listening to, but if you are listening to a couple of different bands, you could benefit by using band specific antennae for each one. For instance, I plan to run four mobile scanners that listen exclusively to 800mhz systems off of one 800mhz antenna, and run the conventional scanners off of a VHU-UHF dual band gain antenna. The narrower the bandwidth of your antenna, generally the better performance you get.

Of course, a lot of people aren't in situations where they can separate their scanners by band, but if you can, it's a good way to go, performance wise. And if you're going to stick up multiple antennae, it just seems a waste to make them all the same, lol.

well I got one scanner that I listen to 800mhz and one with my local police 155.range and then I got another one I listen to military air some vhf and some uhf and i got another one i just got local fire and ems in it i have a total of four all together but what do you reccomend
 

af5rn

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Are you currently having any problems hearing the systems you want to hear? If you are already getting everything clearly, then there's no need to mess with success, unless you are just trying to increase or decrease your antenna count.

800mhz is the system that people most commonly have trouble receiving, as it performs pretty poorly over distance and through obstructions like trees or terrain. If that is a problem for you, then I'd go with an 800mhz antenna devoted specifically to your trunking scanner. If by chance you have a couple of UHF or VHF channels in there too, you'll still get them at short range, but start losing them quickly as you hit the outskirts of town, so only do that if your scanner is all 800.

If you do that, then you can run the conventional UHF/VHF scanner(s) off of either a multibander like the Maxrad/Comtelco or the Larson, or a good ham dual-band antenna cut for 2m and 70cm.

That set-up is basically how I used to run my news vehicle and I got excellent results. But again, before you put out any money, you have to ask yourself if what you presently have isn't already good enough.
 

lugoffman

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af5rn said:
Are you currently having any problems hearing the systems you want to hear? If you are already getting everything clearly, then there's no need to mess with success, unless you are just trying to increase or decrease your antenna count.

800mhz is the system that people most commonly have trouble receiving, as it performs pretty poorly over distance and through obstructions like trees or terrain. If that is a problem for you, then I'd go with an 800mhz antenna devoted specifically to your trunking scanner. If by chance you have a couple of UHF or VHF channels in there too, you'll still get them at short range, but start losing them quickly as you hit the outskirts of town, so only do that if your scanner is all 800.

If you do that, then you can run the conventional UHF/VHF scanner(s) off of either a multibander like the Maxrad/Comtelco or the Larson, or a good ham dual-band antenna cut for 2m and 70cm.

That set-up is basically how I used to run my news vehicle and I got excellent results. But again, before you put out any money, you have to ask yourself if what you presently have isn't already good enough.

Well I dont never have a problem with 800mhz even with the factory antenna well I guess thats because I live not even a mile from the Camden SC cell but I do have a problem with my local stuff somtimes even with the larsen antenna I dont pick them up that good somtimes not all the time most of the time I get them good I just want to pick them up better I cant under stand it but with this being said what do you reccomend with just the local stuff far as better coverage .
 

Airdorn

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Get a better antenna... higher up and outside.

If you want to amplify everything including noise and just make things worse, then get one of those amps.
 

af5rn

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Airdorn said:
Get a better antenna... higher up and outside.
Okay, just to clarify things, I assumed that since you mentioned drilling holes and a Larson NMO, that you were talking about a mobile installation, and not a home installation. Is that correct, Lu? Because either Airdorn or myself misunderstood you.
 

lugoffman

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af5rn said:
Okay, just to clarify things, I assumed that since you mentioned drilling holes and a Larson NMO, that you were talking about a mobile installation, and not a home installation. Is that correct, Lu? Because either Airdorn or myself misunderstood you.
In the car
 

af5rn

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If the Larson isn't quite doing the trick on VHF, then get yourself a VHF specific antenna for the local stuff, and leave the Larson on the trunking scanner. You haven't said anything about UHF or Low Band, so again I am assuming that all your local stuff is VHF-Hi. If so, a wideband 2 metre ham antenna will do you well for both VHF public safety and decent air band monitoring. The Diamond's are good, but so are many others. More gain = more reception, theoretically at least. So compare gain figures and pick one that looks good to you. Mind you that almost any of them are going to noticeably outperform the Larson.
 

tonsoffun

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Airdorn said:
Get a better antenna... higher up and outside.

If you want to amplify everything including noise and just make things worse, then get one of those amps.

Airdorn, which amps are you refering to?
Take care
 

af5rn

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That is assuming that there is noise to be gotten. Sounds like Lugoff is pretty rural and not necessarily susceptible to all the urban noise that many fight with. I live in suburban Dallas and run an amplified Stridsburg multicoupler indoors, at the radio. It makes a signficantly positive difference in drawing in the weak signals and does not result in any increase in noise. I get the same air band and FM broadcast band interference regardless of whether I have the amp (or even an external antenna) on or not.

I would agree, though, that an amp doesn't sound like an appropriate solution for Lugoff.
 

lugoffman

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af5rn said:
That is assuming that there is noise to be gotten. Sounds like Lugoff is pretty rural and not necessarily susceptible to all the urban noise that many fight with. I live in suburban Dallas and run an amplified Stridsburg multicoupler indoors, at the radio. It makes a signficantly positive difference in drawing in the weak signals and does not result in any increase in noise. I get the same air band and FM broadcast band interference regardless of whether I have the amp (or even an external antenna) on or not.

I would agree, though, that an amp doesn't sound like an appropriate solution for Lugoff.

Well I get the sheriff clear as can be but like you was saying earlyer I will be driving down the road using the larsen and I get a lot of static and at home I use the same type of antenna reason I use the same type I cant hang a out side antenna it has to be inside. Now the larsen pickes up some what ok inside , but when I monitor the local sheriff and city and fire departments I get some static some times not all the time but when monitoring fire I get a lot of static no matter were I am now I pick up fire dispatch good but not when the firefighters talk back to dispatch I dont here good. And the same with monitoring military air frequencys
 

af5rn

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If the static is due to simple distance, then an amp will be helpful to you. Since you need a multicoupler anyhow, I'd just get the combination multicoupler/preamp device and kill two birds with one stone. But if the static is due to terrain or external intereferences, then as Airdorn said, a preamp will only amplify the problem.
 
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