Antenna for PRO-197 for use in my car

[Gamefreak88]

I'm looking to buy two RadioShack PRO-197's and need some help choosing antennas.

I drive a sedan and will be putting two antennas on my trunk. It'll probably be two trunk-lip mounts, one on the left and one on the right (cause in the center it would hit my back window when my trunk is popped up, which is also why I want 2 antennas, balance it out).

I've read some things about antenna spacing, different antenna lengths, mounting height importance, and most of all, that antennas are "tuned" for specific frequencies.

Ultimately I need two NMO mount antennas, preferribly no longer than 2ft. One for each PRO-197. One will be monitoring my county (San Diego) and one will be monitoring my city (San Diego city is a small part within San Diego county). The county is digital and the city is conventional/analog.

Would there be any problem with two of these, about 5ft apart from each other on my trunk? Would you reccommend anything else?

Laird B8065 Antenna, 806-866 MHz, 5db Gain
NMO Trunk Lip Mount

Thanks!

 

[RadioDaze]

You'll get a lot of advice, but keep in mind that the Pro-197 is a very sensitive receiver, which is subject to being overloaded by too much signal, i.e., "too good" of an antenna. An antenna with a lot of gain such as the one you are considering has the potential to be a little too much. Give some consideration to an antenna such as this: Comtelco All-Band Low-Profile Scanner Antenna that might have a little less gain on the 800 band, while giving you some flexibility for other bands should the need arise. I don't see any problem with the spacing between the two on the trunk. Should be fine.

Oh, and welcome to the RR Forums!!!

 

[Gamefreak88]

Thanks for your reply. When you say the one I posted has too much gain, is that like when people are saying they "blew their front end"? What is the gain of the Comtelco one, zero? I understand gain as basically "gaining" or "boosting" a signal, so if the Pro-197 is so sensitive, is that what you mean, that I should get a no-gain antenna? Sorry to nitpick, I'm just really trying to wrap my head around this. It's gonna cost me around $800 for 2 scanners, 2 antennas and 2 mounts, so I want to make sure its worth it. If I'm only going to get a tiny bit better signal, its kind of a steep price.

I should also clarify my use, in case it matters. I drive around in the most busy of city streets to the most rural "I wouldn't want to break down here" areas. In other words, I assume I am often in "strong" areas aswell as "weak" areas. I almost always pick up channels perfectly fine with my little Pro-106 handheld and the RS 800MHz duckie antenna, but when I'm in a super rural place, I have a hard time picking things up or it comes in really staticy and hard to understand. So I'm hoping to get really good signal out in the middle of nowhere, but also am afraid I'd have too much signal elsewhere. My driving is about 85% urban and 15% rural.

Also, by "sensitive" do you mean the Pro-197 is easy to burn out and break? Radio Shack is putting them on sale the day after Thanksgiving for $100 off ($299 instead of $399) and I'd really like to take advantage of that, and I can't really afford a Uniden 996XT. I'd hate to buy two Pro-197's and blow them up or always feel like I was going to blow them up.

 

[Gamefreak88]

Also, would there be any notable difference between mounting the antennas on my roof or on my trunk lid? It's like a 1 1/2ft difference in height, but antennas sticking out of a sedans roof look stupid and would require either holes or a huge mag mount, which is why I'm wanting to go with the trunk lip mounts.

 

[Gamefreak88]

I'm also considering this antenna. I haven't decided between a trunk lip mount or actually drilling a hole in my trunk. My concern is it says 3dB MEG. I know theres a lot of talk between dBi, dB MEG, etc. I really really like the look of this antenna, but I can't afford to blow out my scanner(s) and I really don't want to waste money buying/returning items.

A lot of people seem to have great experiences with this antenna, but they're probably using different scanners in different conditions.

ETRAB8063 - Antenex Phantom Elite Low Profile Dual-Band 806-866MHz (Black) Stealth Antenna with Patented Field Diversity


If the above is also no good (cause of the gain), is there a smaller antenna available? I'd love either the one above or like a 8-10 inch antenna drilled in to my trunk as the ideal situation. I don't want huge antennas that are obvious. I want to be stealth. Metal whips can be bent off and broken, whereas that Phantom one looks pretty solid. Plus I was reading something about at highway speeds how the whip antennas move/bend and that effects their performance. I'm often doing 75-80mph on the highway.

 

[N8IAA]

My driving is about 85% urban and 15% rural.

Also, by "sensitive" do you mean the Pro-197 is easy to burn out and break?

No. Sensitive in that it receives signals without much need for a gain antenna. One reason when you are driving around that the longer 800MHz antenna might overload the 106. I use the little stubby antenna that RS sells for my 106 when in the car.
My recommendation is a simple 1/4 wave 2M ham antenna. Larsen has one that is black and the whip is actually cut for 136MHz. Doing the math, it is resonant at 800MHz. This will give you a bit of gain when out in the rural areas you travel. It works for me in the Metro-ATL area where I scan a lot of trunked systems and conventional VHF frequencies. Depending on the color of your vehicle, it will probably be noticed less than the antennex.
Just my $0.02 worth,
Larry

 

[N8IAA]

Trunklip is the way to go while making up your mind about holes in the car:wink:
Larry

 

[Gamefreak88]

Yeah, I'd rather do trunk lip mounts for now while I experiment, but I'm reading something about a ground plane and that its better to mount it with the hole, in terms of performance. I really want the Phantom antenna, but it has 3dB MEG gain. My car is a 2004 Dodge Neon. I'll run this car in to the ground, so I'm not concerned about selling it with holes. I know I'll eventually mount an antenna in a hole. It's just a matter of what antenna.

What happens if I have too much gain? Does it blow my scanner up or does it come in staticy? I would think "too much signal" wouldn't really be a bad thing.