Ham vs Commercial Antennas for Handheld Scanner Use

[lars128]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on comparing tuned commercial handheld antennas (Larsen, Antenex, Comtelco, etc) vs 144/440 ham antennas for scanning use. I'm asking because I noticed in some of the Strong Signals reviews some of the ham antennas can be a little dead in the 152-160 and 450-470 areas, the areas I'm most interested in. Obviously, a tuned antenna will fix that, but will an antenna tuned for 150 or 460 MHz not pick up other bands well? Are tuned antennas one tick ponies or can they scan more than one band like the ham antennas? If so, does anybody have any good suggestions for what to check out?

 

[blueangel-eric]

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on comparing tuned commercial handheld antennas (Larsen, Antenex, Comtelco, etc) vs 144/440 ham antennas for scanning use. I'm asking because I noticed in some of the Strong Signals reviews some of the ham antennas can be a little dead in the 152-160 and 450-470 areas, the areas I'm most interested in. Obviously, a tuned antenna will fix that, but will an antenna tuned for 150 or 460 MHz not pick up other bands well? Are tuned antennas one tick ponies or can they scan more than one band like the ham antennas? If so, does anybody have any good suggestions for what to check out?

the Diamond RH77CA is a ham antenna and works well on a wider freq range. in other words more broadbanded. It depends on the style of antenna. a 1/4 wave antenna is more broadbanded and less gain vs a 5/8 wave is more narrowbanded with gain on tuned freqs.

Eric Burris kc0ldt

 

[N1SQB]

I can tell you that from my experience, an commercial antenna tuned to the band you want is the best way to go if you are having reception problems. This has been the case for me in both NMO mobile mounted and hand held antennas. The Diamond RH 77A is a great antenna as well. That is my second choice after commercial stuff.

Manny

 

[hdralleiii]

Commercial antennas, tuned to a specific band will probably net you the best band-for-band results since they are tuned for a much smaller spectrum, and some can be purchased tuned to an exact frequency if necessary. I have used these over the years for several reasons, but mostly for monitoring railroads. My favorite "wideband" antenna is the Diamond SRH77CA (SMA connector) or the RH77CA BNC equivalent. They perform VERY well throughout the all the bands and about equal to a stock antenna on 800 stuff. They are a bit long but for Airband, VHF High and even UHF, they are hard to beat! If you are going to listen to a bunch of 800Mhz traffic, I would look at some of the offerings from Antenex. The 2.5db 1/2-wave portable antenna they sell is great!

 

[James04TJ]

I am not sure that you are going to notice much of a difference on a handheld. At a fixed install though there is no comparison between commercial and amateur. I will take a DB224 for 2 meters any day.

 

[W6KRU]

Take a look at Smiley antennas. You can custom order an antenna cut to the frequency you specify in the type you need so no adapter is required. They work really well and are cheaper than most.

http://www.smileyantenna.com/