Apartment - Yagi vs Portable

[testerz123456]

Hello everyone, I live on the ground floor of a small apartment complex, and I need better reception. I get extremely garbled reception on my Pro-197 with the tiny 800mhz RS rubber antenna. I keep it inside the apartment. I scan 855mhz P25.

I'm going to get a new antenna, but can't decide what will work for me. I am currently considering:

- 806-866, 8.5dB, Laird Yagi Base Antenna
Laird PC806N Yagi Base Antenna
I would mount this to a broomstick in a bucket w/ concrete and place it on my patio. I'd have to hide this, so it wouldn't be able to get more that 5 feet off the ground.

- 806-866, 5db, Laird Mobile Antenna
Laird B8065 Antenna, 806-866 MHz, 5db Gain
On a cookie tin on my window sill, or just outside on the patio.

Any suggestions?

 

[exkalibur]

When you say "garbled", what do you mean?

A poor signal on a scanner is typically due to one of two things:

1) Weak signal
2) Signal over-load

A good antenna will certainly help with a weak signal, but keep in mind if your scanner is acting poorly due to overloading of signals (such as a near by cell site), a better antenna while bringing in the desired signal better, will also bring in even more over-load.

 

[testerz123456]

When you say "garbled", what do you mean?

A poor signal on a scanner is typically due to one of two things:

1) Weak signal
2) Signal over-load

A good antenna will certainly help with a weak signal, but keep in mind if your scanner is acting poorly due to overloading of signals (such as a near by cell site), a better antenna while bringing in the desired signal better, will also bring in even more over-load.

I'm not sure what it is, exactly. Analyze shows wild fluctuations from 70%-95%. Five bars the whole time, though. I get better, clearer locks when I bring it outside.

Did I mention the building is brick? I'm only about 5 miles away from the nearest tower. ATT stops the scanner from picking up anything.

 

[testerz123456]

PS: By "garbled" I mean that I can hear a couple words, maybe a sentence, and then the voice gets digital-y sounding, almost like it's scrambles, sometimes it comes right back, sometimes it cuts out, sometimes it goes half-scrambles, etc.

 

[AJAT]

- 806-866, 5db, Laird Mobile Antenna
Laird B8065 Antenna, 806-866 MHz, 5db Gain
On a cookie tin on my window sill, or just outside on the patio.

Any suggestions?

I would suggest the mag mount on the patio. I used to have 2 multi band mag mount on my patio. One for my scanner and one for 2 meter amature. I put them on a peice of 2' X 4' sheet metal. It made a huge difference and did not stick up over the balcony so my nieghbors did not see them. You would have to get the NMO magnet mount for that antenna.