mattnelson26
Member
i am looking to buy two amplifiers one for my desktop and one for my portable? anyone have any that they want to get rid of or suggestions?
thanks,
matt
thanks,
matt
antenna amplifier
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Matt you will be much better off improving your antenna and coax cable situations first. Amps can cause more problems than they solve, particularly so if you live in an urban area. Overloading and intermod issues are quite common in such situations. In addition certain models like from GRE already have a very sensitive front end, and amps aren't generally needed in such situations.
What is your current situation on both the home and portable side? What are your frequencies or services of interest? Where are you (county/state is fine)? The more specific the answers, the better....best regards...Mike
What is your current situation on both the home and portable side? What are your frequencies or services of interest? Where are you (county/state is fine)? The more specific the answers, the better....best regards...Mike
I totally agree with the first paragraph above, I'll just add one thing. There exists the possibility your antenna and coax is already as good as it gets and the possibility there is room for improvement. I really don't need to know your situation or comment on it, you're in the best position to determine whether it's the former or the latter with a little research into what's available as compared to what you have.
In any case there is the saying "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it" especially with an amplifier. No sense in getting greedy and messing it all up like what's been done to our economy.
In any case there is the saying "if it ain't broke don't try to fix it" especially with an amplifier. No sense in getting greedy and messing it all up like what's been done to our economy.
mattnelson26
Member
i am trying to get more signal for armer sites? i have a yagi antenna with just rg-6 cable. i am thinking of just updateing the cable to lmr cable.
any suggetions?
any suggetions?
mattnelson26
Member
the sites are between 3-40 miles. the antenna is about 20 feet high. i am not sure if it is properly polarized and designed for teh correct band. the coax run is at most 30 feet.
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if you run an amp on a site 3 miles away you will likely get front end overload, the attenuator in the scanner may be able to over come this or it may not.
the yagi elements should point up and down for vertical polarized signals, which is what 2way radios use. if it is laid over where the elements are parallel to the earth then you could be losing as much as 20db of signal just due to improper polarization. do you have a model number for the yagi, we can tell you if it is the right freq band by that.
for a 30' run you likely won't see any improvement going to LMR, RG6 is not optimal but for RX only it will suffice as loss is not enough to matter on a short run.
the yagi elements should point up and down for vertical polarized signals, which is what 2way radios use. if it is laid over where the elements are parallel to the earth then you could be losing as much as 20db of signal just due to improper polarization. do you have a model number for the yagi, we can tell you if it is the right freq band by that.
for a 30' run you likely won't see any improvement going to LMR, RG6 is not optimal but for RX only it will suffice as loss is not enough to matter on a short run.
mattnelson26
Member
it is a wilson part # 301111
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yeah that is the proper band then, at least according to Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response (ARMER) Trunking System, Various, Minnesota - Scanner Frequencies
are all your desired sites in the same direction from you? a yagi has a narrow beamwidth, so if you have it pointed say due north it may or may not hear much south/east/west unless they are close by.
are all your desired sites in the same direction from you? a yagi has a narrow beamwidth, so if you have it pointed say due north it may or may not hear much south/east/west unless they are close by.
mattnelson26
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no they are not in the same direction. so is the anyother option for me?
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if you have sites in multiple directions you need an omni antenna. yagis are directional, omni pick up from any direction. something like 301202 - Wilson Electronics 50 Ohm Building Mount Antenna w/FME female 14" Coax but you don't necessarily need the 1900mhz just the 850mhz if you want to google a base antenna.
mattnelson26
Member
so what are other models that will work for me? and are the outdoor antennas or indoor? what are better?
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outdoor is going to work best for the distant sites, your home attenuates the signal and if your antenna is outside you over come this portion of loss. honestly, i did not think of this a minute ago, you can use a good mobile gain antenna on a mobile to base convertor a whole lot cheaper than a base antenna, as long as the gain is similar you should see about equal results. there are cheap antennas out there of either type that will serve your needs much better than a yagi, or there are expensive ones that will do it-- it all depends on what you want it to look lik and how much you want to spend.
check laird/maxrad/wilson for 800 mhz range omni antennas. look at the gain of each, unity mean no signal gain, 3db doubles signal strength, 6 db quadruples it, etc.. the 40 mile sites may need a high gain yagi unless you can get the antenna higher up, it is hard to say without knowing terrain specifics and what obstacles are in your path. with wide area systems you basically have to sometimes settle for getting the closer sites and possibly missing some traffic on the distant ones, or dedicate a scanner to distant sites and another to local sites.
check laird/maxrad/wilson for 800 mhz range omni antennas. look at the gain of each, unity mean no signal gain, 3db doubles signal strength, 6 db quadruples it, etc.. the 40 mile sites may need a high gain yagi unless you can get the antenna higher up, it is hard to say without knowing terrain specifics and what obstacles are in your path. with wide area systems you basically have to sometimes settle for getting the closer sites and possibly missing some traffic on the distant ones, or dedicate a scanner to distant sites and another to local sites.
mattnelson26
Member
it looks like i am going to get the wilson 301202.
thanks for all the help
matt
thanks for all the help
matt
mattnelson26
Member
ok i ordered the antenna. but now what conectors do i need?
thanks
thanks
what is the cheapest signal booster and best to use were to get one from
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Before you go and make a bad purchase, please read this entire thread. You will learn what to do first...best regards...Mike
Swipesy
Member
I have been following the Mattnelson post for some time now because I have had a similiar issue for years. I wonder if someone could shed some light on this question.
I use a Antennex FG8066 omni-directional antenna for the 806-866MHz range. This antenna is 65" long. The suggested Wilson antenna is only 18" long. Why such a difference in antenna length for similiar band coverage? Just curious.
John
When it comes to preamps, "cheapest" and "best" are mutually exclusive. So, what is it you want?
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