1/4 wave UHF feasible?

[mpcpsrego1]

So I have scoured as much as I could to see if anyone has asked this but I haven't found anything. I know that a 1/4 wave VHF NMO works great on all bands for scanners BUT I am in a situation where I can't do a 1/4 wave VHF. So could a 1/4 wave UHF NMO center mounted on the trunk work for scanner usage only to pick up VHF(150-170) and obviously UHF? I don't need to pick up the furthest tower out there lol just generalized listening in a specific area I am in at that time. Not worried about 700/800 if that matters or not. Any feed back is much appreciated, or anyone done this and had good results please let me know.

 

[Citywide173]

I have used them in a roof mount situation when I was parking in a garage on a regular basis. They work great on UHF/800 but the VHF range is significantly reduced. I will receive VHF 40+ miles away on an Austin Spectra, but only about 10 miles or so on the 1/4 wave UHF antenna. As always, YMMV based on geography/topography and transmitter power.

 

[sonm10]

I use a cheap 2m/440 antenna inside to monitor 850 Mhz
Works decent 9 miles away from tower site
Anything can work as long as you are not dxing

 

[Ubbe]

Any metal in the air will receive signals. It's only a matter of how strong the signals needs to be. Public safety systems are usually designed to have in building coverage so any antenna on a car roof out in the open should work. Generally the bigger the antenna the more it will receive.

/Ubbe

 

[MisterLongwire]

As long as you don't recommend the OP to drive around holding the antenna out the window

 

[zz0468]

Any feed back is much appreciated, or anyone done this and had good results please let me know.

Define "good results". It WILL pick up some signals. On VHF it won't pick up a lot of signals.

 

[trentbob]

So I have scoured as much as I could to see if anyone has asked this but I haven't found anything. I know that a 1/4 wave VHF NMO works great on all bands for scanners BUT I am in a situation where I can't do a 1/4 wave VHF. So could a 1/4 wave UHF NMO center mounted on the trunk work for scanner usage only to pick up VHF(150-170) and obviously UHF? I don't need to pick up the furthest tower out there lol just generalized listening in a specific area I am in at that time. Not worried about 700/800 if that matters or not. Any feed back is much appreciated, or anyone done this and had good results please let me know.

You have asked a very clear-cut question and there is a very clear-cut answer, the answer is... No. A 5-inch quarter wave whip is not going to work on VHF High compared to 1/4 wave VHF High whip of 15 in. Cut and dry. LOL.

 

[Hit_Factor]

Maybe the signals the OP wants to monitor is very strong. In that case it might work very well. Problem is I can't define very well, only the OP can.

Buy/borrow the antenna and try it out. Maybe it will be SAT, maybe not.

 

[mpcpsrego1]

Hey guy's! As always much appreciated on responses! So here is the situation at hand, normally I would drop a VHF NMO 1/4 wave antenna on any scanner application, but this vehicle in question that this is being done on is a more covert vehicle and so primary communications are 800 SZ with Moto, but the scanner is just to monitor a handful of analog SRS VHF conventional frequencies that are bridge gap for were signal on 800 is dead. Now the entire system is on mountain points that surround a valley below where the primary usage for listening would be but like I said in part just mostly needed to pick up decently doesn't have to be a 5 bar reception lol but stationary if monitoring would it be good enough for that.
Another thing I wanted to try when I have some down time cause I have a ton of them not being used and could clear out a few of them is a Laird high gain QWB8253 800 5/8 over 1/4 wave antenna being that it's 14in it's in that playing range of 15-20 in for VHF reception, anyone ever use one them for a scanner and had decent results on VHF/H-UHF bands?

 

[trentbob]

I'm familiar with that antenna, it has the pigtail in the middle. As has been said here anything can pick up a signal but that is an 800 megahertz antenna. Not sure of having a lot of them would be a good reason to use it if it's not going to give you optimal reception on VHF High.

I understand you're looking for low profile here. Being that the Laird antenna is probably about 14 in it would be the same as if you had a quarter wave VHF High 15 inch whip.

You don't seem to mind compromised reception of the VHF traffic but I guess I'm just one of those people that always wants the most optimal possible reception to avoid dead spots and static. I can't imagine using a less efficient antenna than what's required for an application. I guess it's the OCD in me LOL.

You could always pick up the old style Larson tri-band which is very good on VHF UHF 800. It's 15 in. I'm not talking about the new one with the spring that's tuned for 700 megahertz also but the old tri-band under thirty bucks.

As we see here everybody has their own opinion and as it's been said anything can pick up a "signal".

 

[Chronic]

Does the rubber duck antenna on the scanner pick up the signals you want when outside ? If the duck works well enough then you might be ok with the uhf. Cut a piece of wire the length of a 1/4 wave UHF antenna and stick it into the scanner antenna port and see how it performs.

Vertical Antenna Calculator

Use this online calculator to determine the length of a quarter-wave antenna from the frequency. Both metric and English units of measurement are supported.

www.66pacific.com

 

[Citywide173]

If you're looking for covert, this, or something similar from another manufacturer, might work for you. Amazon.com: Para Dynamics PDC634MB AM/FM SCANNER ANTENNA WITH BNC ADAPTER MULTICOUPLER: Electronics

Or even this inside: https://www.amazon.com/TengKo-Scann...PMRAVVVHCKK&psc=1&refRID=XR7ZXZ0CMPMRAVVVHCKK (I have no personal experience with these, but I had an A/S version of the first one and it performed well.

 

[prcguy]

You simply won't know what your not receiving unless you have a legitimate antenna.

You have asked a very clear-cut question and there is a very clear-cut answer, the answer is... No. A 5-inch quarter wave whip is not going to work on VHF High compared to 1/4 wave VHF High whip of 15 in. Cut and dry. LOL.

 

[tvengr]

I have installed many of the 15 inch 1/4 wave VHF antennas on news vehicles for scanners. They work very well for receiving VHF, UHF, and 700/800 MHz. Transmitting is a different matter. A UHF antenna is very inefficient for receiving VHF. Just use the antennas with a wire whip. An antenna with coils might be designed for UHF or 700/800 MHz, but VHF reception will be compromised even though the antenna might be the same 15 inch length. The unity gain 1/4 wave 15 inch VHF antennas are also very inexpensive.

 

[krokus]

I have used the GRE 800 MHz antenna to receive VHF. It worked reasonably well.

I think what you are wanting to try will work, at least well enough.

 

[sflmonitor]

I know this may sound counter intuitive but have you considered placing a VHF whip somewhere in the interior of your vehicle? That will keep it covert and you should still receive the transmissions that you seek. I did the same thing on my work car because I can't install outside/rooftop mounted antennas and it works surprisingly well for scanner reception. I can receive 700/800 MHz systems from my county as well as systems from the counties to the north and south of me. I can even hear civilian and military aviation fairly well. I use a Sti-co Flexi-whip VHF NMO mount.

 

[tvengr]

I have a tri-band antenna (High VHF, UHF & 700/800) inside my SUV next to the rear driver's side window. It works very well. The VHF whip antenna will work also.

 

[trentbob]

Yep I use the Larson VHF High, UHF, 7 - 800 megahertz on my car. I'm sure that works very well from inside the car also.

For the longest time I used the antenna specialists nmo quarter wave 15 in with the spring and it worked well on VHF High, UHF and 800 megahertz.

I never got good results on VHF High from a 5-inch quarter wave UHF antenna but I guess it could pick up something.

 

[mpcpsrego1]

Hey guy's madly appreciate your help in this!! I forgot to add that this a client install that I am tasked with and the request was made that it needed to be low profile, me personally my go to for scanners has always been and VHF 1/4 wave NMO install and I have had great feedback from people on it but this particular customer supplies me with quite a few installs and programming so I figured throwing it out there for feedback to you guy's would be helpful. Which it has, a few things that stand out to me!! The vehicle is a 2015 Ford Taurus so the back deck is very narrow like 10in tall from the front narrowing back, @sflmonitor I didn't even think about a STI-CO! At one point I thought about dropping a VHF 1/4 wave and securing it down on the back deck the only problem I could see is that it would lay horizontal and unsure if it would get good pick up that way but I feel like a VHF 1/4 interior install at this point will be the only way to effectively give reasonable reception but keep a covert status as requested

 

[prcguy]

Have you heard of or considered the COMPACtenna? I have the tri-band amateur version for 2m/220/440 and it seems to work very well for a 7 1/2" tall antenna. It actually does a little better than a full length quarter wave 19" whip on 2m and just slightly worse on UHF that a full quarter wave 6" whip. The newest scanner version for VHF/UHF/800 is 9" tall and the previous model is 7.5" tall. The scanner versions are rated 136-174, 379-512 and 750-960Mhz. I have not used the scanner version but if it works as well as the amateur version it should be good, especially for a very short antenna.

These are best used at the edge of a roof or trunk lid or other places where the ground plane is normally less than desirable. Here is a link to the antenna: COMPACtenna SCAN III Antenna