antenna recommendation for pima county?

[kaitlyn4589]

i currently live in tucson and im about to order an SDS100 what would be the best indoor antenna i can buy for this scanner?

 

[tvengr]

Are you asking about a base type antenna or a replacement for the SDS100 stock antenna? If you are primarily interested in Tucson and Pima County, an excellent choice to replace the stock antenna that comes with the scanner would be the Remtronix REM-820S. It is high gain for the 800 MHz sites used by the Pima County PCWIN system and works far better than the stock antenna for those frequencies.. It will probably outperform an indoor base type antenna for those frequencies, is only about 7" long, and will always be on your scanner for portable use. It made a drastic improvement in the performance of my SDS100. I was able to receive 700 and 800 MHz systems that I could not with the stock antenna. It will work OK with UHF frequencies. The only downside is its performance on VHF frequencies. Here is a link to the PCWIN system: Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) Trunking System, Tucson, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)

 

[GlobalNorth]

There are two ways to go when you want to listen to more than one band - a) Buy a discone antenna and some coax, then hide it in the attic. You get some elevation, it is concealed from prying HOA eyes, and it is wide spectrum. b) Buy a Larsen tri-band mobile antenna with a magnetic mount that covers VHF-Hi, UHF R1 and R2, and 700/800 MHz. Visit the local second hand store and buy a large cookie sheet - then stick the antenna mount in the center of the sheet. Place it entire assembly on top of a bookcase, a refrigerator, etc. as high as you can place it and the attic works too.

Both are relatively inexpensive and option B is quick and simple. If you need to move it, it takes only seconds to hide it from the landlord, visitors, etc. It is also cheap!

 

[kaitlyn4589]

Are you asking about a base type antenna or a replacement for the SDS100 stock antenna? If you are primarily interested in Tucson and Pima County, an excellent choice to replace the stock antenna that comes with the scanner would be the Remtronix REM-820S. It is high gain for the 800 MHz sites used by the Pima County PCWIN system and works far better than the stock antenna for those frequencies.. It will probably outperform an indoor base type antenna for those frequencies, is only about 7" long, and will always be on your scanner for portable use. It made a drastic improvement in the performance of my SDS100. I was able to receive 700 and 800 MHz systems that I could not with the stock antenna. It will work OK with UHF frequencies. The only downside is its performance on VHF frequencies. Here is a link to the PCWIN system: Pima County Wireless Integrated Network (PCWIN) Trunking System, Tucson, Arizona - Scanner Frequencies (radioreference.com)

@tvengr do you have a link for the antenna you recommended?

 

[tvengr]

Here is the link: SMA SDS100 800MHz REMTRONIX Portable Antenna | ScannerMaster.com