A 396T needs a small antenna right?? Check this out...

[whooey]

I bought a Diamond SRH805, and I am VERY pleased with it. It out performs the stock antenna in all aspects (freqs).

The antenna is 4.5cm long.

 

[wesct]

if you want a better antenna, consider a comet sma 503. it does better on the lower freqs than the stock antenna.

wesct

 

[Voyager]

I bought a Diamond SRH805, and I am VERY pleased with it. It out performs the stock antenna in all aspects (freqs).

I find that very hard to believe. (virtually impossible)

I have a miracle baby (virtually the same antenna) and while it is OK for close transmissions, it does not have near the performance of even the stock antenna, and any small antenna like that I've tried (about half a dozen) are near absolutely deaf on VHF Low Band.

Joe M.

 

[whooey]

I bought a Diamond SRH805, and I am VERY pleased with it. It out performs the stock antenna in all aspects (freqs).

I find that very hard to believe. (virtually impossible)

I have a miracle baby (virtually the same antenna) and while it is OK for close transmissions, it does not have near the performance of even the stock antenna, and any small antenna like that I've tried (about half a dozen) are near absolutely deaf on VHF Low Band.

Joe M.

I won't argue w/ you Joe, but I'm speaking from my own expierience. I listen to 800mHz trunking, 461.625, and 154.3250 mostly.

I guess I should have been more specific.

On these freq's, I can tell no difference between the stock and the new antenna.

Brandon G.

 

[Voyager]

I bought a Diamond SRH805, and I am VERY pleased with it. It out performs the stock antenna in all aspects (freqs).

I find that very hard to believe. (virtually impossible)

I have a miracle baby (virtually the same antenna) and while it is OK for close transmissions, it does not have near the performance of even the stock antenna, and any small antenna like that I've tried (about half a dozen) are near absolutely deaf on VHF Low Band.

Joe M.

I won't argue w/ you Joe, but I'm speaking from my own expierience. I listen to 800mHz trunking, 461.625, and 154.3250 mostly.

I guess I should have been more specific.

On these freq's, I can tell no difference between the stock and the new antenna.

Brandon G.

OK. Well, I just tried the stock antenna, and I pick up two weather stations. Neither is exceptionally strong, but I cannot find areas that I can't receive them with the stock antenna in this room. They are fully quieted in some areas. Both are about 25 miles away from me.

I can hear neither on the Comet Miracle Baby (CH-32) or ANY of the other micro size antennas.

FWIW, I hear both about the same as the stock duck on the Radio Shack 800 MHz antenna (20-283).

Of course, this makes sense since it is physically impossible for a short antenna such as the micro size ones to have as much gain as a typical scanner antenna has (although all would be below unity gain). Most scanner antennas are designed primarily for VHF/UHF use.

Can you run the same test I ran with yours and let me know the results?

I don't doubt that close range (full quieting +10 dB) communications may be picked up on the micro-size antennas, but that still doesn't mean that they work as well with weaker signals.

Maybe you have a bad stock antenna.

Joe M.

 

[Al42]

I won't argue w/ you Joe, but I'm speaking from my own expierience. I listen to 800mHz trunking, 461.625, and 154.3250 mostly.

I guess I should have been more specific.

On these freq's, I can tell no difference between the stock and the new antenna.

Brandon G.

If the signal with the original antenna is 20db above the noise, it'll still be full quieting with the micro antenna.

Move the scanner to a position at which you get less than full scale on the meter with the stock antenna. Then see what reading you get from exactly the same position (of both the scanner and your body - you affect it) with the micro antenna. Even if it's still noise-free, the reading should drop.

 

[nexus]

He must be monitoring signals real close in. I have one of those antennas for my kenwood THG71A dualband handheld and its crap... I can't get into a repeater 9 miles away which is used generally for 3 counties. I put the stock antenna back on and I get full quieting and S9 signal reports talking through it.

That antenna is just shy of being a dummy load.

 

[Voyager]

That antenna is just shy of being a dummy load.

Yep, and that makes it great for picking up Close Call signals. Distant signals are not a factor. They cannot add to the noise floor.

That's why Radio Shack sells it as a 'Racing antenna' (which will only pick up signals on the track property) and others market it as a close range antenna.

In fact, a couple of the small antennas I have ARE dummy loads. They are 50 Ohm terminations fron an Ethernet coax system. One is about 1" tall, and another is about 2" tall.

It's a 50 ohm resistor in a housing. I'm pretty well convinced that's all these other antennas are, too. They may have a small coil, but pretty much, as you said, a dummy load. Not that they don't have a useful purpose, as I said.

Joe M.

 

[John_M]

Voyager Wrote:

Yep, and that makes it great for picking up Close Call signals. Distant signals are not a factor. They cannot add to the noise floor.

I never thought of this.

 

[AZScanner]

:lol: heh heh heh.... Sam Adams... always a good decision. Saw that and just HAD to comment. 8)

Oh yeah... nice antenna too.

Cheers,
-AZ