Antenna booster for scanner antenna?

[ROY_PICKETT]

I was just wondering if they sell antenna boosters for scanner antennas ? I have a tube type tv antenna booster probabily from the 50s , wonder if a person can build or buy a booster for scanning? Thanks Roy

 

[ka3jjz]

If you mean a preamp, sure there are - several models floating around out there. We have a couple linked in our Military wiki.

However, these should really be used with some caution - in an urban area, they can lead to hearing pagers and other junk where it doesn't belong - or in some cases, actually lead to hearing less stations. Improve your antenna with more height, feedline changes, ect. before considering a preamp.

73s Mike

 

[DavidNVA]

I use the Radio Shack 15-1108 as seen here - http://www.milaircomms.com/antenna_mounted_amplifier.html with excellent results on my scantenna for civil and military air bands.

 

[ROY_PICKETT]

Thanks... I live in a small area and pick up frequencies from 100 miles plus away.. My antenna is only 15 feet off the ground ans is a aluminum cb antenna... I guess if i got an actual wide band scanner antenna and got it up say 30 feet , there would probabily ne no need for a booster.. We have about 85+ frequencies programed in and hear lots of stuff but still lots of quiet sometimes.... Thanks for the info... Roy

 

[gewecke]

Rather than using a preamp(booster), try a directional antenna for the bands that you are mainly interested in. Preamps tend to cause a lot of intermod and image problems as someone else mentioned. However,if you decide that a preamp is the method you want to use then try a GAS-FET (gesilium fetride) preamp. These are common in microwave
applications and are very high gain with very low noise figures!
In other words,no more intermod problems or very little.
One word of caution! When using gas-fet preamps,DO NOT transmit through them!!!
You will snuff the transistors,and they stink when they go!
Good luck!
N9ZAS

 

[hotdjdave]

What the others are posting is wise counsel. It is far better to upscale your antenna than to use a pre-amp.

If you are using the scanner (radio) inside your house, your TV antenna will work much better than that CB antenna. A TV antenna is wideband (multiple frequencies) by design, covering most of what you would want to hear. However, most TV antennas are mounted in a horizontal position, making them highly direction. This is good if you know from where you want to receive the signal - just point the antenna in that direction and you have a pretty descent directional antenna. For an all around, non-direction antenna, you could remount the antenna in a vertical manner (on its side) for best results. Besides, it is usually already posted up pretty high on your roof. If you are using the TV antenna for your television (not using cable TV), you could use a splitter.

I use my TV antenna for RX in my house on my iCOM IC-PCR1000.

As for pre-amps, if you still feel you need one, here are a few sources:

http://www.greamerica.com/scanner.html
http://www.grove-ent.com/PREAMPLIFIERS.html
http://www.scannermaster.com/Pre_Amplifiers_s/45.htm
http://www.hamradio.com/
http://www.hamcity.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=634
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/index.php