Quick question!

[glimerman]

i have the sds 200 to make a long story short i want to run a mobile antenna outside on my pourch to just test some things before i spend the cash and pout up a big antenna on the roof. the tram 1094 is 23 dollars and the tram 1089 is like 14 ,here is the thing can i just set this out there or do i need to put it on a cookie sheet or something for the ground plane ? if i need to stick this to something metal does the metal has to be grounded ? or can i just stick this to a cookie sheet and put the sheet on the wood ? most of my testing will be 700/800mgz but will try some stuff like noaa weather . the reason i want to do this is where i want my base unit a few things dont come in good . but if i move the scanner to a different room or outside they work fine .. so i really want to put up a big diamond antenna on the roof but the weather is bad and it will cost 200 bucks or more so if anyone has any ideas on this just so i can do some testing with the antenna in a different room or 10 feet outside on my front porch away from my base unit please let me know thanks

 

[mancow]

Go with the 1094. Those tiny ones suck. They have crappy ground connections and use RG-174 coax which is really lossy. Just put the 1094 on a sheet of metal like you mentioned. No it does not need to be grounded. The sheet of metal will couple to it through the magnet and act as the ground reference.

 

[glimerman]

thank you very much for your help

 

[sparklehorse]

<snip>...most of my testing will be 700/800mgz but will try some stuff like noaa weather. <snip> ... so i really want to put up a big diamond antenna on the roof but the weather is bad and it will cost 200 bucks or more...<snip>

Most "big diamond antennas" in the $200 range are not designed for 700/800 MHz, they are for VHF/UHF Ham or commercial bands. In fact I've never seen a Diamond antenna specifically made for 700/800 MHz. Their mini-discone might work for you though:

Diamond D220R Antenna, Diamond D-220R Scanner Antenna

.