Distance between scanner antenna and 2 meter antenna

zlamb0002

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May 4, 2019
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Mayfield, KY
What is a good distance apart so the 2 meter antenna transmitting will not interfere with or damage my police scanner?

Please don't answer something like "1/2 a wavelength" or something like that. I don't know what any of that means. Please just a simple answer.
 

mmckenna

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Jul 27, 2005
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I am a lineman for the county.
What is a good distance apart so the 2 meter antenna transmitting will not interfere with or damage my police scanner?

Please don't answer something like "1/2 a wavelength" or something like that. I don't know what any of that means. Please just a simple answer.

It really depends on a number of variables. There isn't a simple answer.

We'd need more info, and even then it would be an estimation.

Is the 2 meter antenna on a hand held radio? Mobile mount? Base station?
Is the scanner hand held? Mobile mount? Base?
Where are the antennas located? In the same room? Mounted on a vehicle? Mounted on a roof?

2 meter radio transmit power?
Antenna gain?

Probably a bunch of other questions, but no, no easy answer.
 

zlamb0002

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Joined
May 4, 2019
Messages
17
Location
Mayfield, KY
It really depends on a number of variables. There isn't a simple answer.

We'd need more info, and even then it would be an estimation.

Is the 2 meter antenna on a hand held radio? Mobile mount? Base station?
Is the scanner hand held? Mobile mount? Base?
Where are the antennas located? In the same room? Mounted on a vehicle? Mounted on a roof?

2 meter radio transmit power?
Antenna gain?

Probably a bunch of other questions, but no, no easy answer.
The 2 meter is a base. The scanner is a base.
The antennas will be outside on 15-20' poles.
The 2 meter max is 80 watts.
I am buying new antennas since I am moving and it's not worth taking down the cheap antennas that I currently have.
 

mmckenna

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I am a lineman for the county.
There's still a lot of variables, like antenna gain, feedline losses, etc.

Based on an 80 watt radio, 6dB gain base antenna, I'd start looking at 20 feet or so, just to be safe.
It would be beneficial to have one of the antennas physically higher than the other, to get that horizontal separation that @vagrant touched on above.

That should help with reducing the chances of actual damage to the scanner.
It likely isn't enough to prevent the transmitter from desensitizing the scanner. It's likely that when you key up on the 2 meter radio, the scanner will lose reception.

Those RF limiters that vagrant linked to above would be a good thing to install at your scanner.

I've got a remotely controlled receiver at one of my tower sites at work. There's two 100 watt VHF repeaters there, as well as 3 cellular carriers and a 100 watt 800MHz repeater. When our PD or Fire repeater kicks on, it'll wipe out the RX on the receiver. That's with a 0dB discone antenna on the receiver, and about 6dB of antenna gain on the repeaters. There's about 30 feet of horizontal separation between the remote receiver and one of the repeater antennas, and about 50 feet on the others. No damage to the receiver, but it does suffer from that desense when they transmit.
 
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