Considering a rooftop antenna

[mrnurse]

Now that I have this new 996XT up and running (I even programmed a trunking system by hand just to see if I could....I'll stick to the software method thanks) my attention is turning to a rooftop antenna. With the antenna that attaches to the back of the unit I am able to pull in the Fleetnet sites for Peterborough, Pontypool, Durham, Campbellford and Cobourg. I can hear fire for Peterborough, Hastings and Northumberland Counties. As well, I can hear the Peterborough airport and sometimes pickup CFB Trenton. Is it worth the expense and hassle of mounting an outdoor antenna and running the coax when I seem to get so much?

What else can I listen to? This is my newbie question that I didn't ask when I was learning to program the 996 This scanner still has features that I haven't even scratched the surface on.

Is it normal for a wife to turn a scanner off as soon as you leave the room? I get what her problem is.

 

[EJB]

Now that I have this new 996XT up and running (I even programmed a trunking system by hand just to see if I could....I'll stick to the software method thanks) my attention is turning to a rooftop antenna. With the antenna that attaches to the back of the unit I am able to pull in the Fleetnet sites for Peterborough, Pontypool, Durham, Campbellford and Cobourg. I can hear fire for Peterborough, Hastings and Northumberland Counties. As well, I can hear the Peterborough airport and sometimes pickup CFB Trenton. Is it worth the expense and hassle of mounting an outdoor antenna and running the coax when I seem to get so much?

What else can I listen to? This is my newbie question that I didn't ask when I was learning to program the 996 This scanner still has features that I haven't even scratched the surface on.

Is it normal for a wife to turn a scanner off as soon as you leave the room? I get what her problem is.

Good for you for programming by hand! You will get a lot of respect here for that being a newbie and all.

It depends on what you want to listen to, You could ask around on this site here or in the antenna forums what you should get. It was once said by Chrome that you spend a big wad of cash on a scanner so why would you cheap out on an antenna. If you have a roof or a tower and know how to do it why not.

You will be able to maybe hear US stuff if you close enough to the lake, the EMS and MTO are on Fleetnet as well. Are you close enough to Toronto ? If so you will have 24/7/365 action.

As for the wife, my wife hates it generally but when the fire alarm goes off in our building in the middle of the nite and when a Domestic is called in at a unit in our building nite after nite she is riveted!

 

[gary123]

just a note with fleetnet and good high antennas, you may pick up more than you want i would concider using the attenuator function on your local towers.

 

[pathalogical]

You may also consider your chimney as a mount for your antenna. Chimney strap kits are available if you don't want to poke holes through your shingles. You asked "What else can I listen to? ", well that's the cool thing about scanners, ya never know what you're going to hear on what frequency. If you're near the 401, try the CB channels; near a main body of water, try the Marine channels: near a Provincial park, may get some hits on FRS/GMRS. For CFB Trenton, scan the 225-400 mHz which is military air - milair for short. Have fun listening !

 

[VE3RADIO]

Now that I have this new 996XT up and running (I even programmed a trunking system by hand just to see if I could....I'll stick to the software method thanks) my attention is turning to a rooftop antenna. With the antenna that attaches to the back of the unit I am able to pull in the Fleetnet sites for Peterborough, Pontypool, Durham, Campbellford and Cobourg. I can hear fire for Peterborough, Hastings and Northumberland Counties. As well, I can hear the Peterborough airport and sometimes pickup CFB Trenton. Is it worth the expense and hassle of mounting an outdoor antenna and running the coax when I seem to get so much?

What else can I listen to? This is my newbie question that I didn't ask when I was learning to program the 996 This scanner still has features that I haven't even scratched the surface on.

Is it normal for a wife to turn a scanner off as soon as you leave the room? I get what her problem is.

Those are good results for a standard antenna, where do you live? It sounds like your not too far from where I am.. I would suggest putting up a tower if your able!

 

[mrnurse]

WZ1, I'm a few minutes west of Norwood. I live on a hill with few obstructions to the north, west and south horizons. The only bad part of my location is the wind.

 

[VE3RADIO]

WZ1, I'm a few minutes west of Norwood. I live on a hill with few obstructions to the north, west and south horizons. The only bad part of my location is the wind.

I'm in Durham Region near Clarington/Oshawa line. I drive through Norwood often on my way to Ottawa.

 

[louisiana_jeeper]

WZ1, I'm a few minutes west of Norwood. I live on a hill with few obstructions to the north, west and south horizons. The only bad part of my location is the wind.

Depending on your desired range "The Shack" has several mount options for short mast sections. Search their site. I use one of theirs that mounted on the end of a roof gable. If you are interested in 800mhz (who isnt nowdays) your coax and any adaptor fittings will almost immediatly eat up any height gain. Look at the 800mhz loss figure on most coax, add about 3db for every perfect connector(if I remember that rule of thumb correctly), and subtract those numbers from your antenna's gain figure.

Be cautious reading gain figures on antenna ads especially if they do not tell their DB gain referenced to what. DBi references to isotropic point source while DBD is to a simple diapole. A DBi reference is usually 3 DB over the DBD for same antenna. aka 6DBD would show in another makers ad as 9DBi for the same antenna design. Your on radio antenna is probably a diapole in gain at UHF which would be 3 DBi the other way of stating it. Probably not much more than that so it should give you an idea of where you are.

Antenna manufacturers tend to overclaim gain on antennas also. This is even more evident in the areas like TV and scanners because they know that many users have no or very limited knowledge. I even witnessed one contest between two high band ham antennas where one foreign manufacturer had the local distributer bring an off the shelf factory sealed box antenna and the american competetor had a modified prototype of his production design which barely won on a test range. I dont think his product off the line would be good enough to win when it came out.

When you start checking gain figures of your selected antenna system you could very easily come up with loss at UHF. The same install could give you a small to moderate gain at VHF. If you are in a populated area things are already moving to UHF if not already there. (I am in the very rural south and we are very quickly moving a second time from VHF High to UHF 800meg trunking systems. Not to many years ago we moved from VHF low to high).

I can not quote any figures without checking specs and marketplace. I have little direct experience with scanner antennas but a good bit with other types up to 10.5 GHZ common carrier band.

Weigh your options and do some study on antenna systems theory before you spend money on something that will not get you much return, maybe even loss. Hopefully I have gotten you to look before you leap and any study you do will not hurt you in the long run it will be knowledge you can use in the future.

 

[randyf]

this is a homemade bracket made it has been through some dandy storms has not moved a bit

 

[randyf]

here is another shot of hook, up pulled in Motorola control channel from Quebec one night , st Louis another good skip night