Recently I've been trying to pick-up the Atlanta P25 system (800mhz) from my new apartment about 32 miles away from the nearest tower. Due to my being in an apartment I can't really setup a Yagi or traditional scanner antenna so I've been trying various TV antennas.
In that quest I've tried a few different antennas but can't seem to beat the performance of the $10 ChannelMaster FLATenna. Most recently I've tried their ULTRAtenna which actually yields worse results for me than the $10 cheapo I bought from them last year. Everything I've tried has been used both with and without a signal amplifier.
The FLATenna is out on the balcony turned on it's side. The other units I've tried also wound up on their side. Occasionally I can get DSD+ to decode the control channel with the signal amplifier in-line and even more rarely I'll get voice channel decoding through the FLATenna.
I have a few questions that are puzzling me.
1. How is it that this $10 piece of plastic with embedded metal is outperforming antennas meant to be much, much better than it?
2. Would a purpose-built scanner antenna likely do any better than what I'm already using? I've thought of trying to build a J-Pole or even a Slim Jim but I have my doubts as to whether they'd actually outperform what I'm using.
3. Is there something "better" than the FLATenna that I could try? I see ChannelMaster have a SMARtenna and am tempted by it. Perhaps the extra 15 mile range that's claimed will help me pull in the signal.
Thanks in advance for the input!
FLATenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/Flatenna_Indoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4001hd.htm
ULTRAtenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/Digital_HDTV_Outdoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4221hd.htm
SMARTenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/SMARTenna_HD_Antenna_p/cm-3000hd.htm
In that quest I've tried a few different antennas but can't seem to beat the performance of the $10 ChannelMaster FLATenna. Most recently I've tried their ULTRAtenna which actually yields worse results for me than the $10 cheapo I bought from them last year. Everything I've tried has been used both with and without a signal amplifier.
The FLATenna is out on the balcony turned on it's side. The other units I've tried also wound up on their side. Occasionally I can get DSD+ to decode the control channel with the signal amplifier in-line and even more rarely I'll get voice channel decoding through the FLATenna.
I have a few questions that are puzzling me.
1. How is it that this $10 piece of plastic with embedded metal is outperforming antennas meant to be much, much better than it?
2. Would a purpose-built scanner antenna likely do any better than what I'm already using? I've thought of trying to build a J-Pole or even a Slim Jim but I have my doubts as to whether they'd actually outperform what I'm using.
3. Is there something "better" than the FLATenna that I could try? I see ChannelMaster have a SMARtenna and am tempted by it. Perhaps the extra 15 mile range that's claimed will help me pull in the signal.
Thanks in advance for the input!
FLATenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/Flatenna_Indoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4001hd.htm
ULTRAtenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/Digital_HDTV_Outdoor_TV_Antenna_p/cm-4221hd.htm
SMARTenna: https://www.channelmaster.com/SMARTenna_HD_Antenna_p/cm-3000hd.htm
