I'm brand new to scanning and picked up a pro 106 from radioshack a couple weeks ago. And love the scanner but I need a antenna for my 2011 honda accord. My car has no antenna's visible and is fairly sleek looking so I don't want to add a big antenna, something low profile would be great. After looking around forums I have learned allot about antennas, which ones seem to be popular, and have compiled a list of antennas I am interested in. My main focus is low profile but if I choose to abandon that I would like a good antenna for 800 mhz scanning. I'm confused at gain, since I have read several posts that the pro 106/197 can be overloaded with signals.
1.
Antenex DISC824M [Antenex DISC824M] - $59.95 : The Antenna Farm :: , Your Two Way Radio Source!
I really like this one since its low profile. What would I need in addition to it? It says that it requires a ground plane, what is that & what does it mean I have to purchase? Would I need to drill holes, are there any other alternatives to drilling holes?
2.
Larsen NMO150/450/800 [NMO150/450/800] - $29.95 : The Antenna Farm :: , Your Two Way Radio Source!
This one is one of my last ditch options since I really am not to keen on the idea of adding a antenna that is tall, but it could probably fit in if I mounted in front by the engine like regular antennas.
3.
Through-The-Glass Mobile Antenna with BNC
Like this one too and realize the restrictions of through glass antennas, but seems the most convenient in not effecting my resale price of the car.
Mostly for 800 mhz scanning in the Broward County, Florida (Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood) area and I am working on getting my HAM license to legally have my scanning in the car along with getting into the hobby. I receive well on my 800 mhz rubber duck most of the county. Thanks in advance for your advice.
1. Ground-plane in this case simply means that you'd have to mount it to a flat, metallic part of your car. It's designed so that YES, you'd have to drill a hole, unless you could find a similar one that used a magnetic mount. These types of 'hockey-puck' antennas usually perform poorly (compared to traditional types) & are often just used for installations where ceiling clearance, car-washes, etc. are issues. For your application, it's NOT worth the cost or hole in the car & you'd be better off just using the PRO-106 with rubber duck.
2. "Unity gain" basically means no gain to it, however, being a vertical antenna mounted outside the car, it'd probably perform pretty well, while still being rather small/low-profile. You could buy a mag-mount for it, or again, drill a hole.
3. Wow, Scannermaster actually giving one of their products a rather mediocre review!! Since you're so worried about aesthetics, and also concerned with front-end overload caused by using a handheld scanner with a mobile antenna, I'd suggest you go this route. Keep in mind though that there are many similar glass-mount products available through other vendors, and if you really were mostly interested in 800MHz, I'd go with one made specifically for that spectrum instead of the Scannermaster one.
I too have a brand-new vehicle & went thru the same basic concerns as you, however I'm a long-time scanner-geek so antenna performance was more important than aesthetics for me, though I'm not yet an old-geezer that wants to 'look-cool' to other radio geeks & 'look important' to the public by having many antennas all over my car (go to a ham swap or ham club meeting -- you'll see what I mean). The roof of my car is taller than most people, so drilling an antenna mount there won't affect resale value of the car.
Thankfully, the OEM AM/FM/OnStar PCS/GPS/Sirius satellite radio systems in my car all just use ONE antenna mounted on the rear roof area.
After doing an EMI/RFI survey to insure the scanner antenna's proposed location as well as the planned routing of the coax wouldn't cause any interference issues, I drilled an NMO-mount on the right front fender, right where many cars would have the 31" OEM whip for AM/FM. If I wanted to be somewhat discrete, I could have used an antenna (albeit with an NMO mount) that was about 31" tall & thus 99% of the public wouldn't ever give it a second-look. However, because I'm more interested in performance, the antenna I'm currently using with the Uniden 996XT scanner in the car is a 39" Maldol EX-510, but will soon also have a 33" Austin Spectra antenna to try. Center-roof would have been the best mounting spot performance-wise, but a transceive antenna will be going there & I wanted vertical & horizontal distance between it & the scanner antenna. Once I get everything finished-up on my car, I'll post some photos but meanwhile, attached is a photo of the right front fender NMO mount for the antenna antenna.
That sort of thing could also be an option for you, and in fact you could actually drill a small hole & mount a 31" AM/FM whip in that spot & leave it there when you sold the car. Most people would never notice or care. For many years, my normal mobile scanner antenna was my car's 31" whip & it worked surprisingly well across the spectrum, including 800MHz.
Another route you could go is a professional, disguised antenna, depending on what/where the actual AM/FM antenna on your car is:
Disguised undercover covert license plate antenna,fender,cowel,bumper antennas &
Sti-Co Keep in mind that most of those are really expensive & don't perform great -- covertness is more important than antenna performance. This one is pretty cool though:
Stico Antenna Products, Antenna Accessories, in Buffalo NY | Sti-Co -- you can use a regular rubber-duck antenna with it. The antenna being tilted at an angle like that though looks like it'd cause about a 10dB loss in strength or vertically polarized signals but that probably won't be a big deal for your application & environment.
What I'd do if I were you:
1. Track down a cheap 800MHz or scanner mag-mount antenna & use it for now. By going with a mag-mount, you can experiment with different mounting locations. If you DO get front-end overload with a low-performance antenna like this in your normal area of operation, you can experiment with placing the antenna elsewhere on your vehicle to see if it helps (unlike with a glass-mount or drilling a hole for an antenna). For example only:
Tri-Band Ham & Scanner Antenna Rare Earth Magnet w/BNC on eBay!
2. Study-up for your ham license -- not just Tech, but go for at least General. That'll give you some book-knowledge about antennas & electronics, so you don't fall for stupid claims that some antenna manufacturers make. I could legitimately market a "high-performance, broad-band antenna -- mount not included" for $20 & actually just send you a paperclip I unfolded. Buyer beware.
3. Once you get your ham license, you might be anxious to add some ham gear to your car, which means ANOTHER antenna. You will want to put equal thought into your second antenna, and want to minimize de-sense into your scanner if you're transmitting on the ham radio in the car, so it's better to coordinate antenna placement at the same time, rather than do a glass mount now & then have less workable options for another antenna in a month or two.
4. I don't know what your situation with the car is -- how long you'll probably keep it, whether the neighbors will shoot you if the antenna makes them think you're an undercover po-po, etc. but if/when you become more of a radio-geek &/or your car starts to lose its virginity, don't be afraid to drill a hole or at least use a good mag-mount.
Tim
![2011_honda_accord_sedan_coupe.jpg]](http://www.autospies.com/images/users/trymee/main/2011_honda_accord_sedan_coupe.jpg])
