Central Ct. Antennas

[BYPASS999]

Im looking to install a rooftop Antenna, Im in New Britain near Farmington, Id be interested to know what kind of antenna you have and how the reception is. I just got a BCD 996 T so ill be monitoring the state police, Life Star, and other towns. Im not sure if i should go with a discone or maybe i need something more directional or both. .Any suggestions would be great. Thanks.

 

[georged4997]

i have a radio shack antenna, ( not discone) mounted on a mast above the peek of the house. and
it works great. i live in baltic and have a big hill in the back of the house. i have picked up fdny on skip
at times. its only cost about 27.00 dollars. i pick up the state police fine also. i have 8x ? running to
the antenna. the scanner is a uniden 785 d with the digital chip.

 

[cg]

Within a city I would be careful that any outside antenna did not actually degrade performance. I would guess that the CSP would suffer from a increase in antenna height as 800 digital is particularly prone to outside Nextel interference.
I use many antennas from specific band antennas (directional yagi's and omnidirectionals) to multiband discones and sticks (Austin Ferret (2)).
One of the Ferrets is deaf as a stump and the other is great. I have a RS discone that is decent on all but 800. I use 2 800 yagi's and a 800 omni for my 800 reception due to a Nextel site 1/4 mile away.
Whatever antenna you use, go with decent coax. I have used Belden 9913 but switched to LMR400. I also use LMR600 ($$$), but that requires expensive connectors and very expensive crimpers to install said connectors.
Lentini's is in your area and is a very good source of coax and connectors.

chris

 

[andy404ns]

I'm in Wethersfield and use three different antennas. One is the Scantenna, one is the RS 20-176 (sputnik), and the last is a dedicated 800MHz antenna from Comtelco. The Comtelco is used on my Uniden 996T to monitor State Police. It did improve 800MHz reception by a bar (sometimes two). The other two antennas are split between my other scanners for VHF low/high and UHF. If you want just one antenna for all bands (which is the impression I got), I'd go with either the Scantenna or the RS 20-176. After all coax/connectors, the price is about the same.

Mount high with good coax. In addition to Lentinis (mentioned above), Cables and Connectors on the berlin turnpike will have all the crimping supplies you may need.

 

[BYPASS999]

Im interested in how far you pick up the state police. Im thinking of using a Diamond discone D 130 J with a N connector, With LMR 400 or 9913, I could add a DPD 700-1000 MHz if i need it but im not sure if i do yet. D P D Productions. Com, makes some serious lookings antennas. But no discone. But mainly right now im interested in what people are picking up, from where and with what.
Thanks

 

[Tom_G]

I have never been overly impressed with discones.
They receive a very wide range of frequencies but none of them very well.

Since the State Police are on 800MHz exclusively along with New Britain, Farmington, Hartford, Wetherfield, Berlin, and Glastonbury, I would recommend a good dedicated 800MHz antenna.
I also use an 800MHz Comtelco Base antenna with good results.
They also do pretty well on 450MHz.
You can see them here:
http://www.rfwiz.com/Comtelco/ComtelcoBase2.htm

Best of Luck

 

[dimab]

I live in Farmington by the river, so I was actually down a few feet of elevation instead of up over the hill towards Plainville/Bristol and have had the RS discone installed on the roof before. I listened to all the surrounding towns, the hotlines and intercity. Had awesome reception!
I tried CSP with my the 996, but wasn't interesting enough, and reception was OK. Depending where in New Britain you are, you might have better luck with the CSP.

 

[andy404ns]

Im interested in how far you pick up the state police. Im thinking of using a Diamond discone D 130 J with a N connector, With LMR 400 or 9913, I could add a DPD 700-1000 MHz if i need it but im not sure if i do yet. D P D Productions. Com, makes some serious lookings antennas. But no discone. But mainly right now im interested in what people are picking up, from where and with what.
Thanks

Well I'm not an expert but if you're solely interested in state police, you're much better off getting a directional yagi and pointing it at the nearest state PD tower in your area.

For me in Wethersfield, state PD is hit or miss. I found that I have better luck using the Troop K simulcast site instead of the Troop H site. I guess you'll just have to test it at your location to see which is best.