trx680
Member
I have other antennas there, so its easy for me to add on. And even though I just want local, a chimney mount should pick up better than being inside this old thick walled brick house.
best base ANTENNA for SDS200 scanner
- Thread starter trx680
- Start date
Pick up what better exactly? Again what "exactly" are you trying to pick up that you're not receiving locally now? Do you actually have the SDS 200 programmed (correctly) and is it not receiving something you're wanting to pick up?
It was posted earlier you may be from Petersburg VA and the system they're on is an 800 simulcast system.
Exactly. Antennas are a tuned part of the receiver system. A 1/4 wave antenna for 150 MHz is 18-19 inches long. A 1/4 wave antenna for 850 MHz is about 3 inches long. There's no way that one single antenna is going to perform well on both bands without some compromises.
If you want best performance on VHF, buy a VHF antenna. If you want best performance on 850 MHz, buy an antenna for 850 MHz. So-called all-band antennas may "work" on all bands, but they rarely have exceptional performance on all bands.
These days there are no "turn it on and scan" scanners. A lot has changed since the 90's when you had your Bearcat 100. If I might suggest, if you've decided on the SDS 200, that's great however, get the scanner in hand, "LEARN IT" and then decide if you honestly need an external antenna to get what you want or not.
First and foremost learn the scanner (whatever one you decide to get) get it programmed and set up correctly and then make your decision about needing an external antenna.
GadgetGeek
Member
I use a Diamond D-130 with my SDS200. I like it because I can also transmit on a few amateur bands with it too.
I have a friend that has this antenna and actually used it for 6 meters, transmit and receive (FM) on a recent event we had. worked great as a vertical on 6.I use a Diamond D-130 with my SDS200. I like it because I can also transmit on a few amateur bands with it too.
@trx680. How close are you to one of these 3 towers? If you have any cell towers in your immediate area then a chimney antenna may not be the ideal solution. Is the signal with your stock telescopic antenna marginal? How many bars? What do you feel is being missed? Have you experimented with the different filters? Not making a whole lot of sense to me why you'd need a chimney antenna to only pick up local stuff. You don't need that long of an element if you're only after 800...
I kind of wish @trx680 would check back in and advise us of some of the reasons he believes he needs an external antenna. All that stuff near Petersburg is in the clear right now also, great place to live for scanning LEO and FIRE!
Up until recently i world not have recommended a discone antenna but having tried out the Moonraker HF Discone 0.05MHz to 2000MHz i would say this is the best general receiving antenna. I monitor 80 metre HAM band, Civil and military air bands and Marine band on the one antenna. i do switch to a dedicated civil / mill band antenna ( diamond D777) to listen to aircraft only.
All of my local stuff at the moment is being received off of a 3 inch piece of stripped coax, which is sitting 5 feet above the ground sticking out of the back of my house.
Ultimate stealth!
trx680
Member
I have a uniden 396XT handheld now. I’m considering upgrading to the Sds200.
Right now with the stock antenna on that handheld, I actually have a hard time bringing in transmissions clearly from surrounding counties. I live in Petersburg and yes, I want to listen to what’s going on in Petersburg, but I only live a half a mile from Dinwiddie and Prince George. And a few miles from Colonial Heights and Chesterfield. Chesterfield is a big county, actually all those counties are big. I don’t know if the Sds200 with its longer telescopic antenna will do any better than inside my house, which is surrounded by trees. That’s why I am considering the antenna on the chimney.
In a Simulcast area where pointing to the towers was important for 800Mhz. - I had best luck with inexpensive Yagi Antenna's off Amazon. But these are specific for 800-900Mhz. signals for the most part. Go to 1:10 in the video:
Ahh so you DON'T have the SDS200 yet. This makes much more sense & sheds light on the situation.
Apparently I (and perhaps others here) have read the subject line but overlooked the first sentence of your opening post
You're likely within range of two or more towers (reference post #28) and are facing simulcast distortion with your 396XT. If you upgraded the antenna for use on your existing scanner it would only make the issues worse. The SDS series scanners handle simulcast systems much better than their predecessors, as is well documented on the forums so investing in an SDS200 would be a wise decision on your part. Try the stock antenna on your future SDS200 first, see how it performs. If you feel performance may be lacking then you can cross the antenna upgrade bridge. Just my two cents
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As mention, Omni X. I have on a pole that goes from 10' to 20'. It's extremely flat here, so it works great. I can pick up the FT Myers (RSW) airport 30+ miles away easy, along other Ft Myers stuff.
Yep, I guess I did also.Apparently I (and perhaps others here) have read the subject line but overlooked the first sentence of your opening post
This, exactly this. He might be trying to cross a bridge he doesn't need to at this point in time. I cannot comment the SDS200 yet as I do not own one but I know an antenna upgrade on my BDC 536 made simulcast worse here at my place. Less was better which is why I went a different route for the simulcast monitoring and dedicated the BCD536 to other scanning.
I use a Diamond D-130 with my SDS200. I like it because I can also transmit on a few amateur bands with it too.
Do you have any trouble receiving NOAA weather stations with this antenna? I have it connected to a SDS200, LMR-400. I can hear all kinds of VHF, UHF, 800 but not a peep on the weather stuff. I switch over to my Omni-X (Alpha Delta 2 way N switch) and I can hear five weather broadcasts. Quite odd. The D-130 seems especially happy in aviation bands...
GadgetGeek
Member
No trouble receiving NOAA at my location. I have mine fed with 25 feet of LMR-400 too.
This works well on my local trunked systems that are 170/ 7/8/900 mhz. Also picks up uhf, mainly fire depts. from surrounding areas. Have a few like this for when I travel as they are small and sit nicely in the laptop case. This one runs to a multi-coupler that feeds 2 scanners a some dongles.
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