antenna wire from dis-cone to a pro 106

[jlo]

i bought a dis-cone antenna a few months ago but the wire that i have is to big to run from the outside to under the window in my room. currently i'm using it in my basement but would like to get it outside mounted high
anyone know what the smallest size can be use.
would like to get one made locally from the electronics store or one that's factory from a online dealer.
type, size or brand
thx j

 

[hfxChris]

How many feet (approximately) are you looking at?

 

[n5ims]

Like hfxChris indicated, how long does the cable need to be, but also several additional facts are needed to provide a proper answer. What frequency range(s) are you looking to use? How much do you want to (possibly even are willing to) spend? How "handy" are you as far as doing the installation (both the stringing up the cable as well as installing the connectors)? Have you planned your lightning protection and if so what kind of connector does it use? What kind of connector is used on your antenna (probably UHF/PL-259)? What kind of connector is used on your scanner (a Pro-106 has BNC)? What amount of coax loss is acceptable for your needs?

As you can see, there are many factors that need to go into answering your question correctly. A simple answer would be to assume the worst and pick a very expensive, hard to install cable, but one with very low loss and say that was what you need (perhaps this Heliax Coax). Another simple answer would be something small, cheap, and easy to install (like RadioShack® 50-Ft. RG-58 Coax Cable Assembly - RadioShack.com). Either might do the job, but could require adapters, be way too expensive for what you need, or have too much loss to get the desired signal from the antenna to your radio.

A great suggestion for a feed line on a very low frequency and short length might be the worst thing you could use for much higher frequencies and/or longer length.

 

[jlo]

60 ft

chris 60 ft should be ok.

and n5ims
i have a bnc connection on both the antenna and scanner.but currently using a 800mhz on the pro 106.
not sure about the loss and other stuff. other than only needing it for vhf local rcmp.
thx for your help guys.

 

[n5ims]

60 foot of cable on VHF should allow you quite a good selection of usable cables. You can easily go with some cheap and easy high quality RG-6 (quad shield if you can). That should give you a pretty simple installation (small holes to puch the cable through so minimal damage to the building), quite inexpensive and high quality (even water resistant if you shop carefully) connectors (using compression connecters you can easily install BNC connectors nearly as easy as you can the more common "F" connectors used for Cable-TV), and the coax isn't costly to boot. It's 75 ohm and your scanner specifies 50 ohm cable, but that won't cause you any issues.

If you want, you can spend a bit more and get lower loss (and much more difficult to install) cable going with some LMR-400. While it may be worth it if you need to get 800 MHz systems, it's probably not worth the extra cost for VHF-Hi systems.

The other advantage of RG-6 over LMR-400 is you can use low cost and easy to find TV type accessories for your installation vs the higher cost and possibly not locally available ones for the larger LMR-400 cable. The ground-blocks can help with grounding your coax would be one example.

One other thing to thing about. The 800 MHz antenna you're using on the Pro-106 works great for 800 MHz systems, but isn't the best for the VHF systems like you indicate your local RCMP uses.