will external antenna really help me?

[scruggsy]

I bought an external antenna, (Antennacraft ST2) with plans to eave mount it on my house, the end result will have the antenna approximately 35 feet in the air! I have 3 radios and would like to connect to all 3 at any given time! I will of course be using the 396 and the HP1 as mobile units when I leave the house and using the antennas mentioned below.

On my Home Patrol I am now using the antenna that originally came on my 396xt, I get transmissions from 40 to 50 miles away to the north, and 20 to 30 to the south, east, and west! depending on where I am in the house.

On my BCD396XT I have a Radio Shack Center loaded telescopic whip, (Center-Loaded Telescoping Whip Antenna : Telescoping Antennas | RadioShack.com), and I find that I am not getting quite the results as I do with the HP, maybe 20 mile radius on a good day!

my bct8 is connected to a Cobra magnetic base mobile antenna sitting atop my desk hutch and gets neighboring towns with ease 15 to 20 miles, more on occasion.

I would like some input as to the results I should expect , and what affect will putting all 3 radios on one antenna have on my reception if any!

[reconrider8]

Im the same boat. Im about to start getting my tower up and together and i kinda wonder how mines going to do also

[737mech]

Originally Posted by scruggsy

I bought an external antenna, (Antennacraft ST2) with plans to eave mount it on my house, the end result will have the antenna approximately 35 feet in the air! I have 3 radios and would like to connect to all 3 at any given time! I will of course be using the 396 and the HP1 as mobile units when I leave the house and using the antennas mentioned below.

On my Home Patrol I am now using the antenna that originally came on my 396xt, I get transmissions from 40 to 50 miles away to the north, and 20 to 30 to the south, east, and west! depending on where I am in the house.

On my BCD396XT I have a Radio Shack Center loaded telescopic whip, (Center-Loaded Telescoping Whip Antenna : Telescoping Antennas | RadioShack.com), and I find that I am not getting quite the results as I do with the HP, maybe 20 mile radius on a good day!

my bct8 is connected to a Cobra magnetic base mobile antenna sitting atop my desk hutch and gets neighboring towns with ease 15 to 20 miles, more on occasion.

I would like some input as to the results I should expect , and what affect will putting all 3 radios on one antenna have on my reception if any!

The quick answer is yes you will have an improved listening experience with a external antenna. Are you planning on using a multicoupler with that setup or just a tv splitter? Lot's of info here about using one antenna with several scanners. Also helps to fill us in on freqs you are planning to improve on. ST2 may not help with 800 range. Use good coax as well.

[LtDoc]

I can say that you will have better reception with an outside antenna. I can't 'quantify' it, say how much better it will be.
- 'Doc

[scruggsy]

Originally Posted by 737mech

The quick answer is yes you will have an improved listening experience with a external antenna. Are you planning on using a multicoupler with that setup or just a tv splitter? Lot's of info here about using one antenna with several scanners. Also helps to fill us in on freqs you are planning to improve on. ST2 may not help with 800 range. Use good coax as well.

well given my novice experience i was gonna use a tv splitter, but if a multicoupler is the way to go then there ya go! I just learned something new.
as far as the frequencies, well I would like to pull in the Clt Douglas airport, I get some of the chatter now but not much!
oh and the coax that came with the antenna looks to be 50' of your run of the mill CATV RG-6.

[737mech]

Originally Posted by scruggsy

well given my novice experience i was gonna use a tv splitter, but if a multicoupler is the way to go then there ya go! I just learned something new.
as far as the frequencies, well I would like to pull in the Clt Douglas airport, I get some of the chatter now but not much!
oh and the coax that came with the antenna looks to be 50' of your run of the mill CATV RG-6.

Don't be worried about trying a TV splitter, alot of us use them and they work. Also, trying to get airport comms, did you ever try an FM trap? The coax that usually comes with that antenna is average coax, there's a world of better coax cables out there. All depends on how much you want to spend. Keep reading in this forum there's a ton of info on all of this here. Coax types and loss charts, fm traps and filters etc etc.

[E-542]

Solid Signal Blog - What is an FM trap and why would you need one? That's basic info on an FM trap, however other info I read frequently says you do NOT need one unless you have an amplified antenna, and a side note, it may not work for CLT Douglas. This is a 'FM' trap... Aircraft comm's are AM. MAY work, but probably not as efficiently as it would for an FM signal.

[mule1075]

Originally Posted by E-542

Solid Signal Blog - What is an FM trap and why would you need one? That's basic info on an FM trap, however other info I read frequently says you do NOT need one unless you have an amplified antenna, and a side note, it may not work for CLT Douglas. This is a 'FM' trap... Aircraft comm's are AM. MAY work, but probably not as efficiently as it would for an FM signal.

Using a fm trap can really help airband monitoring.

[cavmedic]

Be careful with standard cable tv splitters. Some of them are duplexed for two way systems. anything below 45 MHZ will be significantly attenuated, or may not pass anything above 45 mhz when back feeding....