Home antenna for newbie

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lefty2cocks

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New to the forum and to antennas. I have a radio shack pro-107 portable. Love it so far but wanted to expand my range. Well, not so much expand as clear up the signal. I'd love to get some sort of antenna up rather than just the small one coming off of the unit. I bought a bigger one that mounts on the unit and it helped a little, but not as much as I'd like.

I live in eastern Massachusetts. I've been looking at antennas but have no idea what to get. With all the different bands/frequencies, my head is spinning. Any advice?

Thank you so much
 

lefty2cocks

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At the risk of sounding naive, is that related to the frequency?

My local police use the 470's range and the fire uses 150's. Also, the local state police around here are using a range in the 850's. So looking at a chart on the interwebs, VHF and ULF?

This is assuming that the frequencies I'm reading off of the scanner are being reported in MHz. Can't seem to get it to display that label. The scanner I have was designed for dopes like me. You can add channels with just the town name and don't need to know any of the frequencies.

Unless I completely misunderstood the question.

Thanks
 

lefty2cocks

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Just curious, if I wanted to do something outside, could the wire set up go on the side of my house with some electrical tape around the connections? Or would the moisture foul up the works?
 

JoshuaHufford

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An outdoor antenna will give you the best reception. I've heard a lot of good things about this antenna,

OmniX Scanner Base Antenna

Of course mounting the antenna outdoors ads a new level of challenge as your mast will need to be grounded, surge protection, getting the coax into the house etc. But we are all here to help if you decide to go that route.
 

lefty2cocks

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What if I go with the wire version of and it's tacked to the side of the house as opposed to protruding above the roof line? Is grounding still important?

Also, is it all about altitude? In other words, in theory, should an indoor antenna like the one proposed by popnokick mounted say in the same room at generally the same altitude outperform the regular antenna that came with the unit?
 

Spec

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Things to consider with an outside ant. You'll need a mast to mount the ant. Be it from the ground up, mounted on the roof or side of the house. Keep it away from aluminum siding and some house have aluminized insulation so offset it from the house. Now inside the same factors effect the performance of the ant. Inside but near a window is best. In the attic is good and make the coax run to the radio. Your choice of ant is a matter of money...how much do you want to spend. A simple 18 inch ground plane ant will do very well for the frequencies you have stated. Hope this helps you.
 

JoshuaHufford

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In my experience even the best antenna in the same location as the antenna on your unit isn't going to do much better, some, especially if it is by a window, but not much better.

Attic is probably your best option if you don't want to mount it outdoors, and since you are interested in the 800MHz range you will need to invest in quality coax cable unless your able to keep the radio close to the antenna.

If you want to make a serious improvement in reception you need a good outdoor antenna mounted up in the air.
 

popnokick

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Outdoor antennas are almost always better than indoor antennas in normal circumstances. But as has been noted, installing them is much more complicated and expensive than lashing up the simple wire version of the OCFD shown in the RR Antenna Wiki. Will it be better than a top-of-set antenna on your Pro-107? Absolutely, particularly if you put it on the upper floor or attic of the building. Will it be better than an outdoor antenna? Very likely NO. Outdoor is best, But the wire version of the OCFD is about $10 and 15 minutes of your time to rig up. And no worries about grounding, getting to the roof, etc. For the time and energy you'll spend it's worth it in the likely improvement in signals you'll receive. Quick and easy... and you can do the outdoor antenna later in better weather, more time, more money, etc.
It will be negatively affected (as is any indoor antenna) by large metal objects (HVAC ducts, metal roof, etc.) and wiring or aluminum foil-backed insulation in outer walls. So put it in a window if you can (hopefully one that it is not tinted or has metal particles in the glass).
Outside of the building taped to a wall MIGHT work, but very sketchy if you have wire in the walls. And absolutely useless with aluminum siding.
The 75 to 300 ohm transformer is the same thing as a 300 to 75 ohm transformer. They are standard TV-type transformers with two wire leads that go to the OCFD antenna elements (300 ohm side) and an F-female connector on the 75 ohm side, where you will attach standard RG6 TV antenna cable. Put the antenna as high as you can in the building. With VHF/UHF height is king and trumps other considerations.
 

krdaniel55

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Things to consider with an outside ant. You'll need a mast to mount the ant. Be it from the ground up, mounted on the roof or side of the house. Keep it away from aluminum siding and some house have aluminized insulation so offset it from the house. Now inside the same factors effect the performance of the ant. Inside but near a window is best. In the attic is good and make the coax run to the radio. Your choice of ant is a matter of money...how much do you want to spend. A simple 18 inch ground plane ant will do very well for the frequencies you have stated. Hope this helps you.
I am having to mount in a window area as well. Is it better to have some distance from the glass or can I just tape it to the glass? I have some small rubber clip suction cups I can use it there needs to be some gap left. Is a indoor telescoping antenna.
 

popnokick

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I am having to mount in a window area as well. Is it better to have some distance from the glass or can I just tape it to the glass? I have some small rubber clip suction cups I can use it there needs to be some gap left. Is a indoor telescoping antenna.
And the reason you aren’t using the Off-Center Dipole (OCFD) in the RR Antenna Wiki and hanging it in the window is......??
Telescoping antennas that come with scanners are a compromise to begin with.... made worse by attaching coax to them and sticking them to window glass. If you’re forced to have an indoor antenna at least give it every advantage you can. Read this entire thread carefully. If you don’t want to do the OCFD use a flat panel TV antenna in the window and an adapter to your scanner.
 

krdaniel55

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And the reason you aren’t using the Off-Center Dipole (OCFD) in the RR Antenna Wiki and hanging it in the window is......??
Telescoping antennas that come with scanners are a compromise to begin with.... made worse by attaching coax to them and sticking them to window glass. If you’re forced to have an indoor antenna at least give it every advantage you can. Read this entire thread carefully. If you don’t want to do the OCFD use a flat panel TV antenna in the window and an adapter to your scanner.
Thank you very much for the info.
 
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