Splitting my discone antenna for 2 or 3 scanners

[N8TXX]

I have a discone antenna in my attic and it's working real well for my Uniden BCD536HP scanner. I recently bought a Uniden SDS100 scanner and would like to run both scanners off this one antenna. What should I get to run two or three scanners from this one antenna?
Thanks,

 

[buddrousa]

4 Port MCA204M VHF/UHF Receiver Multicoupler - 25 MHz to 1 GHz | Scanner Master
I run one of these in my car and 2 8 ports at home

 

[chief21]

4 Port MCA204M VHF/UHF Receiver Multicoupler - 25 MHz to 1 GHz | Scanner Master
I run one of these in my car and 2 8 ports at home

I agree. Excellent multi-couplers (but not cheap).

 

[CQ]

Cheaper at the source: MCA204M
And you can change input connector to N if needed. You should probably call to make sure you get the newer black case models. Pricey but good quality.

They also have a 2 port if that's all you really need.

http://www.stridsberg.com/prod01.htm

Good guy to work with.

 

[Ubbe]

If you believe you have plenty enough signal from the antenna for your normal monitoring you probably can take a 3.5dB hit and get a 1-2 splitter for $10. Maybe you can get those dB back if a RG6 coax are better than your current coax and you are into DX scanning, listening to fringe signals.

The Stridsberg splitter is way overpriced, but you get all in one nice box, and you get better performance at a much lower cost from a super lownoise antenna amplifier and a 1-6 tv/sat splitter.

/Ubbe

 

[dlwtrunked]

If you believe you have plenty enough signal from the antenna for your normal monitoring you probably can take a 3.5dB hit and get a 1-2 splitter for $10. Maybe you can get those dB back if a RG6 coax are better than your current coax and you are into DX scanning, listening to fringe signals.

The Stridsberg splitter is way overpriced, but you get all in one nice box, and you get better performance at a much lower cost from a super lownoise antenna amplifier and a 1-6 tv/sat splitter.

/Ubbe

He should also be prepared to invest in notch filters if there are nearby transmitters (always use to notch FM broadcasts). Keep in mind that nearby transmitters can de-sense your reception without you actually hearing them. It often takes some tweaking with gain and filters to find the best configuration and that will be location specific.

Remember that reception is largely primarily dependent on the first amplifier stage (if it has enough gain). Gain without low noise figure generally is not going to help. If near enough a high power transmitter, there may be not much he can do short of an expensive narrow tuned cavity to satisfactorily improve reception of other weaker stations on nearby frequencies.

 

[N8TXX]

Thanks everyone! Appreciated!

 

[trp2525]

If you believe you have plenty enough signal from the antenna for your normal monitoring you probably can take a 3.5dB hit and get a 1-2 splitter for $10...

Here's a quality 2-way splitter from Channel Master which covers 5-1002 MHz and sells for $6 (and as already mentioned above will cut each output by 3.5 dB): https://www.channelmaster.com/Antenna_TV_2_Way_Splitter_p/cm-3212hd.htm

 

[Ubbe]

Keep in mind that nearby transmitters can de-sense your reception without you actually hearing them.

So true! You never know if you have desense issues if you don't check it using a variable attenuator. And if you get an amplifier, even an active Stridsberg splitter, you should always get a variable attenuator to test both before and after the amplifier, adding attenuation, to see if reception improves.

Then you have to test if it's best to use that attenuation permanently or if you have to add some filters. A FM broadcast filter of good quality can never hurt. Some cheap ones might have too much attenuation at frequencies way from the FM broadcast band that could hurt you but in some cases, where people had not used a variable attenuator, it actually reduced the overall signal to a point where the scanner worked at it's best.

A scannerist should always have a variable attenuator in his toolbox. You do not know what you are up against without it and perhaps you try to increase the signal level when you instead should have reduced it. 99% of the antenna amplifiers out there will enhance reception if you dial in the gain properly, but most people just connect it and get overload and de-sense issues and says that antenna amplifiers doesn't work and you should instead get super low loss coax at ten times the cost, which is totally unneccesary.

https://www.amazon.com/Electrovision-EU-296B-Variable-Attenuator-Black/dp/B000LB0QC0/
https://www.amazon.com/Konig-Variable-attenuator-20-SAT-ATT20-KN/dp/B002KD7OPE/

/Ubbe

 

[bob550]

I've had luck using a 4-way cable TV amp as an active splitter from my discone into 3 scanners and an SDR. The gain is adjustable if need be.

 

[devicelab]

Cheaper at the source: MCA204M
And you can change input connector to N if needed. You should probably call to make sure you get the newer black case models. Pricey but good quality.

They also have a 2 port if that's all you really need.

Receiver Multicouplers, Passive and Active, HF to VHF/UHF

Good guy to work with.

+1

Don't skimp on this component with cheap, Chinese junk.

 

[Ubbe]

Reduce problems by getting quality products.

https://www.ebay.com/str/GPIO-Labs

/Ubbe