tv antenna with a cb\scanner

[cbscanman15]

hey guys,could i use a big old tv antenna with a scanner and a cb radio and execpt to get good reception?????






thanks for your time,josh

 

[ka3jjz]

I wonder if that's possible; I've heard of folks using the TV antenna as a scanner antenna by flipping it on its side, then feeding the antenna with a good grade of coax as a scanner antenna but not as both a CB receive (don't ever transmit thru it...) and scanner antenna.
I've also heard of folks using the twin lead as a HF antenna; in this case, the TV antenna acts as a very crude top hat....
Thinking out loud here - I'm not sure that it would work, but it might - if you flip the antenna on its side (so it's looking vertical rather than horizontal, since that's the polarization of many signals in the VHF/UHF spectrum)...then take the twin lead and feed it to a 300/75 ohm balun and splitter; one side goes to the CB, the other to the scanner. Not the best arrangement, but it might work. 73s Mike

 

[bwhite]

(From my experience) Even before flipping it on it's side I'd give it a try the way it is with investing little-or-nothing into it and see what happens. It may surprise you, if not then you can start expanding the effort. There have been a number of times in the past where I just stuck a piece of wire into the antenna jack of a radio and laid it out in an inconspicuous place in the room (like along the baseboard behine the furniture) and was quite surprised and pleased.

 

[Skypilot007]

I used my parents old TV antenna years ago with good results. I never moved it to polorize it vertical but it did have a functioning rotor which helped also. Get a 300/75 balun and run decent coax to the scanner. It will work pretty good for vhf and uhf. Remember it a directional antenna so if it has a rotor use it. Don't even bother hooking it up to a CB. Reception will be very poor and you'll never get a good swr match for transmitting.

 

[MacombMonitor]

It might do OK for VHF/UHF bands on your scanner. It will not be good for C.B., as it's not even close to what it should be for that band. If you attempt to transmit with your C.B. on a TV antenna, you'll probably damage your C.B., as it will not load properly, and burn out the finals.

 

[Watchman76]

TV antenna as scanner antenna

I had a wind damaged Radio Shack VU-75 and while it was down attached some rg-59 coax. It worked fantastic and later found the 300 ohm to 75 ohm transformer was shot too. I mounted the TV antenna vertically by clamping the boom on its end to a mast with the UHF end straight up. So I would say get a TV antenna and slap it up about 20-30 feet and enjoy!