Antenna Pros/Cons? Good? Bad? Suggestions..

[btritch]

Can anyone tell me how well this antenna performs? If it performs on 800 MHZ as stated or if it will be a waste of my money to even bother purchasing, I'm trying to find a good mobile 800 MHZ antenna that will pick up the Arkansas State AWIN system but due to the vehicle it goes on it has to be mag mount. Does anyone know anything about this antenna? Used it? Saw it perform? Etc.? Comments are needed before I spend $$ on this antenna if it's not any good..If it's not good can someone point out a good one.. Please Let Me Know What Everyone Thinks About This Antenna?.. Thanks..

Here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-800-900-Mhz-SNOOP-MOBILE-MAG-MOUNT-SCANNER-ANTENNA_W0QQitemZ280220079531QQihZ018QQcategoryZ149988QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

 

[Airdorn]

Dude, just take 2 mins to look at some of the other garbage that sheister sells.

For example, look at this:

http://tinyurl.com/5l3lt9

That should tell you something.

 

[CWR]

On my last trip to Hardy , and Ash Flat Arkansas , I used an Austin Triune 144/440/Cellular on an NMO trunk lip mount on a Ford Taurus , and it worked well for me. Do a Google search........

 

[btritch]

Man, I Didn't even see that! Who in their right mind would try and pawn off something like that for 20 bucks! I can make that crap here!

Anywho, What would be good for recieving the AWIN 800 MHZ system on a mobile antenna? It's on a van so it would have to be Mag Mount, Trunk Lip is out of the question.. And since it's not my van, Drilling is out of the question also..I just need something that's a little better than the one on the radio...Since I"ll be in the hills...

 

[DPD1]

Dude, just take 2 mins to look at some of the other garbage that sheister sells.

For example, look at this:

http://tinyurl.com/5l3lt9

That should tell you something.

What's scary is that people who use ad copy like...

"OUR NEW 800-900 MHZ MAGNET MOUNT SCANNER ANTENNA IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST MOBILE SCANNER ANTENNAS ON THE MARKET!"

are actually power sellers. I guess maybe we should step up our efforts and start being a lot more obnoxious in our sales... Seems to work. I'm also baffled whenever I see people claim they "aren't in this for the money". Believe me, I work 7 days a week in our business and haven't had a real vacation in at least 10 years. If you're semi retired and choose to work that hard, only to sell items at a price where you merely break even, or maybe even lose money... I seriously question your sanity. I have no idea if people are just really poor accountants or what, but I don't know why someone would want to spend their last time on earth busting their butt every day to make no money. Unfortunately, ridiculous as that is, there's a steady enough supply of those types of people on eBay to make all the rest of us trying to run a legitimate business miserable, by having to try and live up to it... Even though it's economically impossible to do so.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

 

[btritch]

What's scary is that people who use ad copy like...

"OUR NEW 800-900 MHZ MAGNET MOUNT SCANNER ANTENNA IS ONE OF THE HOTTEST MOBILE SCANNER ANTENNAS ON THE MARKET!"

are actually power sellers. I guess maybe we should step up our efforts and start being a lot more obnoxious in our sales... Seems to work. I'm also baffled whenever I see people claim they "aren't in this for the money". Believe me, I work 7 days a week in our business and haven't had a real vacation in at least 10 years. If you're semi retired and choose to work that hard, only to sell items at a price where you merely break even, or maybe even lose money... I seriously question your sanity. I have no idea if people are just really poor accountants or what, but I don't know why someone would want to spend their last time on earth busting their butt every day to make no money. Unfortunately, ridiculous as that is, there's a steady enough supply of those types of people on eBay to make all the rest of us trying to run a legitimate business miserable, by having to try and live up to it... Even though it's economically impossible to do so.

Dave
www.DPDProductions.com
Antennas & Accessories for the RF Professional & Radio Hobbyist

I agree, 100%

 

[W4KRR]

Anywho, What would be good for recieving the AWIN 800 MHZ system on a mobile antenna? It's on a van so it would have to be Mag Mount, Trunk Lip is out of the question.. And since it's not my van, Drilling is out of the question also..I just need something that's a little better than the one on the radio...Since I"ll be in the hills...

If you're looking for strictly 800MHz coverage, then any mobile antenna sold to be used with cell phones should work well. You may have to look on eBay, as there aren't too many mobile cell phone hard installs these days, compared to years ago.

I use the Larsen 150/450/800, which is only 15" long; it covers the 800MHz band as well as VHF high and UHF. It has an NMO base, so you just need an NMO magnet mount and you're good to go. You can get these from most amateur radio dealers, such as AES, HRO, etc.

Or, an 800MHz quarter wave whip, which is only around 3" long, might work out for you. I got mine off of eBay.This antenna also has an NMO base to be used with an NMO mount, magnet or otherwise. The only way to know for sure which one works best is to try them. Any of these would be an improvement over the stock antenna.

 

[SAR923]

It' s hard to get a better 800 MHz antenna than the old Motorola bag phone antennas. There's one at e-bay now for @25 and it's well worth the price. See http://cgi.ebay.com/Motorola-Bag-Ce...ryZ20336QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.

 

[af5rn]

I'd second that claim.

On a similar note, some people seem to assume that an 800 antenna cut for the public safety frequencies is a better way to go than a cellphone antenna. Makes sense on the surface, but in actuality, for scanner listeners, the cellphone antenna is the better way to go. Public safety antennas are tuned to a lower split in order to include the input frequency in the bandwidth. But cellphones are tuned higher, putting the public safety reception band in the dead centre of the antenna's bandwidth.