Apartment Antenna Question

[N1SQB]

During this past year, my wife and I downsized from a private home to an apartment when our kids moved out. The landlord does not allow for outside antenna hookups. So, I am now in a first-floor apartment set up with no outside antenna possibilities. My question is an obvious one, what antenna has worked the best for apartment dwellers overall? I know it varies by location but I would like to hear from those who are having or may have had similar circumstances. I will be monitoring mostly 100-800 Mhz bands in analog and digital modes, some trunking but not much. My scanner is an SDS200. Any antenna suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Manny/N1SQB

 

[mule1075]

During this past year, my wife and I downsized from a private home to an apartment when our kids moved out. The landlord does not allow for outside antenna hookups. So, I am now in a first-floor apartment set up with no outside antenna possibilities. My question is an obvious one, what antenna has worked the best for apartment dwellers overall? I know it varies by location but I would like to hear from those who are having or may have had similar circumstances. I will be monitoring mostly 100-800 Mhz bands in analog and digital modes, some trunking but not much. My scanner is an SDS200. Any antenna suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Manny/N1SQB

A lot of trial and error Manny. My mom passed last year and I lost her porch on the 2nd floor we lived in the same building. Now I have a dpd omni-x on a cheap tripod I bought from home depot in a rear window on my 1st floor. Like I said trial and error I am still playing around so I am not done yet. Let us know what you decide and the results. Hope all is well.

 

[N1SQB]

A lot of trial and error Manny. My mom passed last year and I lost her porch on the 2nd floor we lived in the same building. Now I have a dpd omni-x on a cheap tripod I bought from home depot in a rear window on my 1st floor. Like I said trial and error I am still playing around so I am not done yet. Let us know what you decide and the results. Hope all is well.

Sorry to hear about your mom. I thought about using a base antenna indoors but wanted to see if there were other alternatives. Ebay has few but they look so cheap and I am not looking to just throw money away. A friend of mine has the Omni-X and swears by it. I'm not sure I have the room for it though. My apartment home office also doubles as a recording studio so there is lots of other gear everywhere besides the scanning stuff.

Manny

 

[mule1075]

Sorry to hear about your mom. I thought about using a base antenna indoors but wanted to see if there were other alternatives. Ebay has few but they look so cheap and I am not looking to just throw money away. A friend of mine has the Omni-X and swears by it. I'm not sure I have the room for it though. My apartment home office also doubles as a recording studio so there is lots of other gear everywhere besides the scanning stuff.

Manny

I will send you a picture asap it does not take up a lot of room.And definitely understand looking for alternatives.

 

[trentbob]

I've always used a 150 450 800 ground plane for my rooftops. Because it's a lite antenna to handle it can also be attached to a broom handle and attached to a floor lamp. You can also use some type of tripod or hat rack. It's not pretty but you could do a better job than this temporary install. I've heard stories of people with mini discones, mounting them the same way and you can decorate it to try to camouflage it.

It could work with the antenna of your choice.

 

[mule1075]

View attachment 102161

I've always used a 150 450 800 ground plane for my rooftops. Because it's a lite antenna to handle it can also be attached to a broom handle and attached to a floor lamp. You can also use some type of tripod or hat rack. It's not pretty but you could do a better job than this temporary install. I've heard stories of people with mini discones, mounting them the same way and you can decorate it to try to camouflage it.

It could work with the antenna of your choice.

Is that not RS sputnik? One of my favorites the price was right and if got destroyed go grab another. Great bang for the buck.

 

[trentbob]

You bet it is. I got my first one in the late 60s for $5.95. It did not have the two prongs, they were added later to accommodate 800 megahertz. Always had a number of them on hand. Sometimes they had to be replaced during Hurricane Season but they're so light and easy to handle it was very easy to bring the mast down and replace the antenna.

When RatShack went out of business and had all those 75% + off sales I went around and scooped up every single one that I could find LOL. Good call.

 

[dave3825]

It did not have the two prongs, they were added later to accommodate 800 megahertz.

I am looking to mount one on my roof. How does that do on 7/800? I was going to maybe cut one of the shorter ones down to like 3 1/4. Do you know if those are threaded in or pressed in?

 

[trentbob]

I am looking to mount one on my roof. How does that do on 7/800? I was going to maybe cut one of the shorter ones down to like 3 1/4. Do you know if those are threaded in or pressed in?

The antenna is packaged unassembled but the main hub that the two prongs are attached to, the prongs are already in the hub, what they do, screw them or press them in I'm not sure but they are quite secure. When I assemble the antenna it's your standard thread with a little lock nut and I always add a drop of Loctite as I would assembling any antenna.

As far as performance goes on 7 - 800 megahertz it is not its strong point LOL. It works adequately and does work better then the older model that was VHF High, UHF only. Most 7 - 800 megahertz systems that I listen to are close enough that just a remtronix on the back of the set would be adequate but, of course, the ground plane works much better than that.

I will say I used to have a discone that did perform better on 7 - 800 Megs. That system is now encrypted and I don't listen to it anymore. I don't know if trimming the prongs, prong down would make a difference, that's an interesting idea.

I do think it would be a perfect antenna for mounting in an apartment near a window.

 

[jonwienke]

A tram 1400 discone on a speaker stand works pretty well.

 

[trentbob]

A tram 1400 discone on a speaker stand works pretty well.

You should definitely put a photo of the set-up you made, much prettier than my crooked, ducktaped broom handle LOL.

 

[Ubbe]

I will be monitoring mostly 100-800 Mhz bands

Get a cheap $45 Tram 1410 discone, the quality of build doesn't matter to the radio waves, and cut down all elements to half size, or even 1/3 if you do not need the VHF band to work at full performance, and mount on a floor stand, like an old floor lamp or similar and hang a cloth over it to make it look almost like a lamp.

If you use the included antenna with the SDS200 you'll know what you can receive at a good signal level, that will probably still be received with any type of bigger external antenna, and focus on the systems that are received weak or not at all but are still intersting to you and get a frequency dependent antenna that are tuned to that frequency band, or bands if you get a dual band antenna, and place in the window. Preferable on the outside of the window with some sort of install arrangement, perhaps a magnet mount.

/Ubbe

 

[jonwienke]

You should definitely put a photo of the set-up you made, much prettier than my crooked, ducktaped broom handle LOL.

Even better:

Indoor Discone Antenna Setup

For those who for whatever reason can't set up an outdoor antenna, this setup works quite a bit better than a ducky/whip. Antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QVPGKHU/ Stand: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E0PPG0/ The stand tubing is the exact right size to fit the antenna...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[izzyj4]

Hey Manny!! Hope all is well. Believe it or not, best results I had was with an old Radio Shack magmount for my scanner. I used it when I was living with my ex at the condo. I used a piece of old metal shelving I had for my ground plane and I had fairly decent results in the New Haven / Shoreline East part of CT. I did use the same set up at my house on the Hilltop and had the antenna up in my attic. I did modify it with some RG-8X as my feed, it was an older beat up base but the elements still picked up everything. I can send you a picture when I am home of it, at work now.

Depending on you set up at the apartment, try to get it as high as you can or if you have attic access, try getting it up there with a good ground plane.

 

[iMONITOR]

Just tell the wife you invested in some modern art!

DPD Productions OmniX Scanner Multi Band Base Antenna

OmniX Scanner Base Antenna

Specs Gain: 3 VHF 4 UHF dBi Pattern: Omni-directional Wavelength: 1/2 Elements: 3 Tuned: 118-137, 148-175 & 225-900 MHz Band: UHF & VHF Connector: N Female Cable: RG8X Cable Length: 16 Inches Height: 45" Width: 30" Weight: 2 lb Features Multi Band-Wide Coverage: The uniquely...

dpdproductions.com

45"H X 30W 2 Pounds

You can hang this out of the way on a wall of a spare room. Maybe behind and over your monitoring desk. Tuned: 118-137, 148-175 & 225-900 MHz. Numerous RR members are using this both indoors and outdoors and everyone appears to be very satisfied.

They even have a Air Band version that is also excellent and to my knowledge is the only reasonably priced dual-band base antenna for both VHF and UHF (Military) aircraft.

MilTenna Omni UHF/VHF Base Antenna

MilTenna Omni UHF/VHF Base Antenna

Specs Gain: 3 VHF 4 UHF dBi Pattern: Omni-directional Wavelength: 1/2 Elements: 3 Tuned: 225-400, 118-137 & 138-140 MHz Band: UHF & VHF Air Connector: N Female Cable: RG8X Cable Length: 24 Inches Height: 45" Width: 30" Weight: 2 lb Features Tuned to UHF & VHF Air Bands: The uniquely...

dpdproductions.com

Tuned: 225-400, 118-137 & 138-140 MHz

 

[thatoneiowan]

I live in a ground floor apartment... I have a Terrawave 698-896 MHz antenna mounted to a pvc pipe. The pvc pipe is held up by the base to a standing fan that no longer worked. I am happy with what I pull in given the situation, maybe 20 miles or so if I had to guess.

It's not necessarily for a scanner but I have also had pretty good luck with the RTL-SDR Blog V3 dipole antenna kit, but only if they are close to the ceiling.

If it matters, I didn't buy the antenna new... I have seen them pop up on eBay for cheap once every couple months or so.
TerraWave 3/3.5 dBi Outdoor Omni Antenna M3030035O10006O-B - 800088427

 

[iMONITOR]

I live in a ground floor apartment... I have a Terrawave 698-896 MHz antenna mounted to a pvc pipe. The pvc pipe is held up by the base to a standing fan that no longer worked. I am happy with what I pull in given the situation, maybe 20 miles or so if I had to guess.

It's not necessarily for a scanner but I have also had pretty good luck with the RTL-SDR Blog V3 dipole antenna kit, but only if they are close to the ceiling.

If it matters, I didn't buy the antenna new... I have seen them pop up on eBay for cheap once every couple months or so.
TerraWave 3/3.5 dBi Outdoor Omni Antenna M3030035O10006O-B - 800088427

I've been using the same Terrawave antenna for 700/800 MHz for several months and it's outstanding. It's mounted on a 10' light stand tripod. I alerted RR to them back then as there were several brand new in the box on Ebay for $15/ea!

 

[bearcatrp]

The R220R worked pretty good for me in the winter before I put my full size discone up outside.

Diamond® Antenna ~ D220R

 

[dave3825]

I lived in an apt for years with the only windows facing east and much of what I wanted to scan to my west. I started with an ocfd and it was ok. Then I had a 2 gang elec box and mounted a nmo mount antenna for 800 mhz to that and it did good. I eventually added a lna (low noise amp) and that got interesting. Local stuff came in full strength and when conditions were right, I was able to latch onto to Ocean City trunked system. I live on Long Island. I had nmo for vhf, uhf and 800. I also made, and it worked real good, a tri band antenna

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/209698926371823007/

but the radials were too long inside with my 2 year old running around. Now I have a house so I might try it again.

@M105 started a post about a moxon antenna and that thing started picking up stuff that was not being picked up by anything else I had tried. Had a lot of fun trying different antenna's over the years. I so far have 2, one for uhf and one for 7/800 mhz . 772 Mhz Moxon antenna project.

 

[prcguy]

If you have vent pipes on the roof you can extend them another 2 to 3ft using plastic ABS pipe, then build a fan dipole inside the pipe or hide a commercial antenna inside it. If the neighbors ask what it is say you had to extend the bathroom vent pipe to keep the smell down.