"best" connector for 2 antennas into 1 scanner

[drew6553]

i'm living off campus now and in a youth hostel type setting with private rooms. i have two mag mount antennas on the window seal but i would like to have both of them connected at the same time. i have a cheap t connector from radioshack but finds i lose alot of signal cause of it. i know some signal will be lost due to the connector but i think i would benefit from having two antennas since it may help pick up weak signals better.
does anyone have any great connectors that they feel would work?

 

[N4JNW]

What connectors do you have on the antennae? Are they BNC or PL-259, or?

I am assuming they're BNC?

 

[N_Jay]

i'm living off campus now and in a youth hostel type setting with private rooms. i have two mag mount antennas on the window seal but i would like to have both of them connected at the same time. i have a cheap t connector from radioshack but finds i lose alot of signal cause of it. i know some signal will be lost due to the connector but i think i would benefit from having two antennas since it may help pick up weak signals better.
does anyone have any great connectors that they feel would work?

What type of antennas?

In general two antennas do not help a scanner.

 

[N4JNW]

What type of antennas?

In general two antennas do not help a scanner.

You are correct.

I remember a guy I went to school with whom had a CB in his car. He had a 102" whip on the bumper, and a magnet mt on the trunk lid, and both ran into one CB. He couldn't get over why he couldn't talk very good.

I plugged the whip only in and improved instantly. Or course, this is a recieve situation.

Here's a thought. Instead of plugging TWO antennae into ONE scanner, plug in one antenna at a time and see which gives you better performance. With 2 antennae, I think you become somewhat directional.

 

[Dubbin]

It is not going to help you receive any better then you are with one antenna.

 

[drew6553]

yeah they're bnc and i figured they did since i see shacks with 5 scanners and 6 antennas

 

[N4JNW]

When you see shacks with 5 and 6 antennas, they're usually for multiple scanners, which are dedicated to one or two bands. A general rule of thumb is, the longer the antenna, the lower the freuqncy they're monitoring or transmitting on. A big LOOOONG wire stretched out across someone's yard is for HF (.3 up to about 28 Mhz) and a liiitle bitty antenna on a cop car trunk lid, is more than likely 450-470 Mhz, or maybe even 800 Mhz.

If your antenna's are similar in length, I'd only connect 1 to your scanner for best reception. But, if 1 is substantially longer or shorter than the other, and you have a wide range you're wanting to monitor, then connecting both isn't a bad idea.

Of course, If you're only going to monitor one frequency range at a time, such as 150 Mhz "for now", and then maybe search the 800's later, then connecting a different antenna for each scanning session would be more practical.