Will CB antenna work for Scanner?

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Croaker90

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I was just wondering if a CB antenna would work on a Scanner?

Or

If your Scanner Antenna would work on your CB.

The connections look similar, but I think the CB wire is bigger.

I was tired when I looked at them, and probably seen wrong.

Thanks, Croaker.
 

ridgescan

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Hi croaker- a c.b. antenna will only yield you good reception on lower frequencies (30-50mhz) because it's tuned to operate at 27 mhz, and your scanner (not requiring a tuned antenna to transmit) will use it to that point. Beyond that it becomes a hunk of metal to the scanner because the scanner requires the antenna to be relatively tuned to the spectrums it recieves (hence scanner antennas) No way would a cb work on a scanner antenna because being a transmitter, it requires the antenna to be tuned to a certain tolerance so as to not damage the radio. Sorry so winded-hope it helps!
 

Croaker90

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Oh, ok thanks.

Even hearing it will work on low freqs. I'm still not going to do it. I wa just wondering if it would work.

Not worth ruining a $200.00 scanner when I could buy a $100.00 antenna and still have my scanner. :)
 

CrewRest

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If all your doing is connecting a receiver (scanner) to an antenna and the connectors are the same (even if you use an adapter) it won't hurt the scanner. It might work just fine for most everything you want to listen too. Will it be the best - no - will it work yes! It won't hurt to connect your scanner to the CB antenna. It probably would be best not to use a scanner antenna to your CB.

Doug Anderson
 

ridgescan

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Good luck to you young man in your endeavors as a peace officer-I wish you a safe rewarding career! You cannot hurt the scanner with the wrong antenna as it isn't a transmitter. But to get the most of your radio, go get a good antenna and some quality coax (rg8u) to keep the unwanted interference out. You can get what they call a "discone" all-band base antenna for about $69-100 dollars. I use one and it does the job well.
 
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