So COMPACtenna will work well for 800mhz and what’s the rnage on it? Do I need a separate antenna for vhf?
Antennas
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How much loss of signal reception would I get if I mounted it on my front hood? I need obstacle clearmace and I’m thinking compactenna maybe but I don’t know how good itnisThose little low profile antennas are going to work OK on their specific band only. If 800MHz is the only band you want to listen to, then it would be an option.
They are not a high performance antenna. They are designed primarily for low profile, performance is secondary. If all you want is the looks, then go for it. But if you want something that works well, then it's not what you want.
If this is -only- for a scanner, get one antenna that covers what you need. Yes, you can install multiple antennas and multiplex them together, but that gets expensive. Get one antenna that does what you need. Mount it properly on the roof of your vehicle and enjoy. Since your SUV should provide a good ground plane for the antenna, get something like the Larsen mentioned above or the EMWave. It'll work well on VHF, UHF and 700/800MHz.
Larsen NMO150/450/758SF Tri-band Mobile Antenna covers 150-174, 430-520 & 750-870, 100 Watts, Length 16.5 in, NMO Mount, Spring Base
Larsen NMO150/450/758SF Tri-band Mobile Antenna covers 150-174, 430-520 & 750-870, 100 Watts, Length 16.5 in, NMO Mount, Spring Basetheantennafarm.com
EM Wave EM-M43002 Tri-Band 150-162/450-490/763-870 MHz Mobile Antenna - 17.7 in - NMO - Spring Base
EM Wave EM-M43002 Tri-Band 150-162/450-490/763-870 MHz Mobile Antenna - 17.7 in - NMO - Spring Base
Skip the ham radio antennas. While they'll work, they are tuned for specific portions of the VHF and UHF bands only. You'll get better performance out of an antenna that is actually designed to work where you want it. Since AIRS uses 700 and 800MHz band, you want something that will cover that. The two above antennas will. Plus they'll give you some decent performance on VHF and UHF.
Remember that the antenna needs to be properly mounted. Permanent mount in the center of the roof is ideal. You want that metal plane under the antenna for it to work to it's full potential.
prcguy
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The COMPACtenna triband scanner antenna or the LMR-1 covers VHF, UHF, 700, 800 and 900MHz with similar performance to a full length 1/4 wave whip on each band. On VHF a full quarter wave whip is about 16 to 19" but the 9" tall COMPACtenna works about the same. You won't find much if any gain in a multiband VHF/UHF/800 mobile antenna and you would have to go with a single band version to get any noticeable gain improvement. But then you would need a separate gain type antenna for each band.
Okay this is probably what I am going to end up doing… don’t they make a ham antenna? Do you have any experience with that?
prcguy
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COMPACtenna makes ham specific antennas like a dual band 2m/70cm and an all band scanner antenna and a similar commercial triband and some other stuff.
How would you compare the compactenna triband scanner antenna compared to the nr72bnmo
mmckenna
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Will vary from vehicle to vehicle and from installation to installation.
As for clearance, none of the antennas I linked to will have an issue with a tree branch. Been there, done that, IF you do a proper installation.
I've had both of those antennas mounted on top of full size Ford pickups that have been up and down site access roads and never had an issue. The antennas have a flexible whip and a spring at the base. The Compatenna does not.
You will need to choose the antenna and the mounting location carefully.
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I have not tested the NR72BNMO but at 13.8" tall I would say the COMPACtenna should outperform it on 2m and hard to say on 70cm. When the COMPACtenna tri band was tested against other triband types the ones with a loading coil in the middle did a little worse than the COMPACtenna on VHF and we are talking 18" long antennas compared to the COMPACtenna at about 9" tall. A 13" loaded VHF antenna like the NR72BNMO is not going to do as well. At least that is my opinion if its worth anything.
Do you think I could mount on of the antennas you linked on the hood? How much performance would that reduce?
Do you think I could mount on of the antennas you linked on the hood? How much performance would that reduc
how week does the triband perform on 800mhz simukvast compared to other tribands
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The COMPACtenna did better than many other triband types made by Laird, Larsen, PCTEL and others. If you want better performance on 800 you need a dedicated 800 colinear antenna. The triband types are all a compromise to get all the bands to play nice together and none that I have seen really excell on any band. As I mentioned before they are all similar to a 1/4 wave whip on each band +/- a few dB.
mmckenna
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You can mount them on the front fender. How much it impacts performance depends on a lot of factors. Only way to know for sure is to try it out in both places and compare performance between the two.
Simulcast performance is mostly about the receiver. The antenna plays a bit of a role, but not the way you think. On some receivers that don't handle simulcast well, less gain can be better. But since you have a scanner that is designed to handle simulcast, you'd want something that works better.
I haven't used the Compactenna, so I'd defer to PRCGUY. I've heard many good reviews of them. I don't use one myself, so no comment.
But you need to look at all the options. Mounting three separate antennas on your vehicle will take some work, and ideally you will not want them all on the fender. So, you'd need three antennas, three mounts, the triplexer and the cable to the scanner. It would work better, but that's a lot of work and cost that you may not need. Try one antenna first.
Must easier to pick the multiband antenna and install it correctly. You decide if that's the Compactenna or something else.
Remember that most public safety radio systems are designed for hand held/on the street performance. Having an antenna outside your car should work quite well if you are in the area its designed for.
I’ll throw another vote in for the COMPACtenna. I use the ham version for my 2 meter / 70 centimeter ham transceiver. I will say that since the scanner version is based on the same patented design, the performance will be very similar. You just want to purchase the model that matches your intended use. I think you will like how well the design works. It is really quite amazing. 🤩
What are some examples of 800mhz low profile antennas that would have good performance… I also want the antenna to be not very noticiable
I might be getting another compactenna for ham… I have a icon 2730a what is the rnage on this? Where would you mount the scanner antenna and the ham antenna
Since the Icom IC-2730A is a 50 watt VHF/UHF mobile ham rig, you would want that antenna as far away as is practical from the scanner antenna in an attempt to not overload the scanner. As for range with a dual-band COMPACtenna, that depends on many factors.
- Type of your vehicle, location of antenna on your vehicle, type of NMO mount (magnetic, lip mount, drilled hole, etc.)
- Overall integrity of the radio/antenna system installation (grounds, connectors, coax, etc.)
- Far-end configuration (repeater/base/mobile)
- Transmit antenna height above average terrain (HAAT), power, system gains/losses on transmit antenna system
- Receive antenna height above average terrain (HAAT), system gains/losses on receive antenna system
- Terrain, buildings, foliage, line-of-sight path distance, etc. along the path
mmckenna
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What is more important to you?
Having your preferred antenna up and in the clear is the way to go. If ham radio is more important, put it on the roof. If the scanner is more important, put it up on the roof.
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