Best 700 mhz rubber ducky antenna for pro 668

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scannerjunkie

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Whats the best 700mhz rubber ducky antenna i can purchase for my pro 668? i already have the RS 800 mhz antenna which we all know is way better than the stock ant. just looking to improve the reception of 700mhz p25 systems in my area. any info would be great. thanks.
 

N2SCV

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Whats the best 700mhz rubber ducky antenna i can purchase for my pro 668? i already have the RS 800 mhz antenna which we all know is way better than the stock ant. just looking to improve the reception of 700mhz p25 systems in my area. any info would be great. thanks.

I have the RS 800mhz antenna and a lot of others, the best results I'm getting is from a piece of wire cut to 770.00mhz! Use this: Antenna Length Calculator KD4SAI
 

ka3jjz

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Why are you surprised? As good as the RS duckie is, it's just a tad too short to be resonant on 700....Mike
 

trp2525

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Whats the best 700mhz rubber ducky antenna i can purchase for my pro 668? i already have the RS 800 mhz antenna which we all know is way better than the stock ant. just looking to improve the reception of 700mhz p25 systems in my area. any info would be great. thanks.

You should give this 700 MHz rubber duck IN7-3RD-SMA antenna from Laird a try as it is specifically rated from 698-806 MHz (per the manufacturer's spec sheet-see link below), has 3 dBi gain and is 6.2 inches long. The antenna terminates in a male SMA connector so you would need an adapter to use it on a radio that has a BNC connector (like your PRO-668 has).

Link to Laird's spec sheet for this antenna: http://cdn.lairdtech.com/home/brandworld/files/ANT-DS-IN7-3RD 0611.pdf

Link to buy the antenna from The Antenna Farm: http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-in7-3rd-sma-6922.html

Link to buy the SMA female to BNC male adapter: https://www.amazon.com/Valley-Enterprises®-Female-Cable-Adapter/dp/B002IUB2EI
 

br0adband

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Kind of surprising that no antenna maker seems to have created a 770 MHz centered antenna so far that can be used for such a purpose, would have guessed Diamond or Remtronix would have something designed for that specific tuning point. Maybe as the 700 MHz band becomes more used (we only have one service here in the Las Vegas area and that's the LVMPD in that range) we'll see one of them push out a tuned antenna for 700 MHz operation.

It sure would sell pretty well if one of them got around to doing it, a 700 MHz ducky in the same design as the famed RS 800 MHz duckie would be a purchase from me for sure but so far here in our area the RS 800 pulls in LVMPD without any issues. Of course me living smack dab in the center of this entire metropolitan area which itself is surrounded by mountains where the transmitter sites happen to be could be part of that reason I get such good signals. ;)
 

trp2525

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Kind of surprising that no antenna maker seems to have created a 770 MHz centered antenna so far that can be used for such a purpose...

The Laird 700 MHz rubber ducky antenna IN7-3RD-SMA (with SMA male connector) that I referenced in my post #6 above is the closest thing that I could find as to what the OP was looking for and for the type of 700 MHz antenna that you are referencing. In the spec sheet of the Laird antenna (see above post #6) it states a frequency coverage range from 698-806 MHz so that would make the center of the antenna at about 752 MHz.

The antenna is rated at 3 dBi gain for 700 MHz, can handle up to 10 watts of transmit power and at only $12.95 from The Antenna Farm (see above post #6) it seems quite reasonably priced. Of course you will need an SMA-to-BNC adapter if you want to use it on a radio/scanner with a BNC connector. FYI the same antenna is also available with a reverse polarity SMA connector as IN7-3RD-RSMA or with a reverse polarity TNC connector as IN7-3RD-RTNC.
 

br0adband

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And again, since we're talking about antennas designed for scanner duties aka they will not be used for transmitting then power capabilities and even SWR information bears no actual relevance in the decision to buy one. ;)

I'm sure it's a good antenna, no doubt, as Laird does have a pretty good reputation for making them but at this point in time if I just had to have an antenna specifically designed/tuned for 770 MHz operation (meaning it's centered at that frequency or something very close to it and not down at 752 MHz either but obviously pretty close) I'd go look for a Motorola 700/800 MHz model like the ones most of their XTS public service hardware uses (tuned for 764 to 870 MHz so probably centered about 817 MHz)

Grab an adapter as required for the connection to the scanner since it uses a reverse connector on the Motorola units and go, that's my advice. The actual part number is 8505241U11 and it can be found on eBay for $10 sometimes with free shipping so definitely a bit less than the Laird but basically about the same cost in the long run.

Either one of them would work fine I'm sure, and I'm somewhat surprised the RS 800 isn't working so well for the OP but then again it does have a tuning of about 860 MHz from what I've read (I've never tested such a thing myself, just seen that center frequency mentioned in discussions). The RS 800 has been around for quite a long time, long before 700 MHz systems were probably even on the drawing board so there was no reason to have it tuned lower - actual trunked 800 MHz radio systems usually have their input frequencies in the 806-826 MHz range (roughly 50 MHz lower) so those public service hardware antennas in those days 20+ years ago were tuned at about 838 MHz to cover that swath of frequencies.

Since the RS 800 is not designed for any transmitting purposes then it wasn't necessary to tune it for the lower end hence it being centered at about 860 MHz which was smack in the middle of the 851-870 MHz range originally used for public service but obviously that's gone through changes over the years as part of the rebanding process among others.

Anyway, either one should work great for such purposes. :D
 

trp2525

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And again, since we're talking about antennas designed for scanner duties aka they will not be used for transmitting then power capabilities and even SWR information bears no actual relevance in the decision to buy one...

Since the RS 800 is not designed for any transmitting purposes...

I included the transmit power specs in my Laird 700 MHz antenna information just in case someone had a situation where they would possibly have a need to use the same antenna for transmitting.

While it is true that the Radio Shack 800 MHz antenna was never marketed for transmitting, it's interesting to note that Alinco has just recently started selling the same 800 MHz antenna (available in both BNC and SMA versions) under the Alinco brand name with an Alinco part number and they are marketing it for transmit also. The Alinco antennas are rated for 5 watts transmit power and for 700-900 MHz/33-centimeter band operation per the links below.

The Alinco 800 MHz antennas are the same antennas currently being sold under the Remtronix (BNC and SMA), Whistler (BNC only) and Radio Shack (BNC only) brands. Following are the links to the "new" BNC and SMA Alinco brand 800 MHz antennas:

Alinco REM-800B (BNC) $24.95 at MTC Radio: Alinco REM-800B 800MHz Antenna with BNC Connector - Main Trading Company
Alinco REM-800B (BNC) $24.95 at DX Engineering: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-rem-800b

Alinco REM-800S (SMA) $24.95 at MTC Radio: Alinco REM-800S 800MHz Antenna with SMA Connector - Main Trading Company
Alinco REM-800S (SMA) $24.95 at DX Engineering: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/alo-rem-800s
 
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