Filters and Pre-amps?

[MGW_999]

Hi, I have a Pro 97, and was looking around at some accesories. The filters I can figure out kinda what they do, but the pre-amps?. They both attach on the BNC connector and the antenna mounts on top of them. Does anyone use these things? And what exactely do they do?

Mike

 

[MB]

Filters, filter out things you don't want like strong pager, weather, TV or FM radio frequencies that are causing overload, intermod, desense, or interference.
Preamps boost the signals that you want to hear. An example would be a VHF-hi 150-160Mhz 24dB GASFet preamp that would boost the signals in the VHF-Hi public safety band.

I use both with great results.

 

[John_M]

They both go in-line between your scanner and antenna. You should do filtering first and then amplify. I don't use any filters but I use an amplifier and I also get good results.

 

[MGW_999]

ok, just so I got this straight. It sounds to me that you could put a filter and an amp on the scanner at the same time. Also are there different filters and amps to filter\amplify various signals. Sounds like its geting to be a bit more complicated then I thought lol. I've only had this scanner for about a month, I'm still not sure how to figure out what signals are AM, FM, UHF, VHF, all I know is I can scan them. I dont want to filter out something I may want, or amplify something I dont. Is there a good place to get a Know Your Filters and Amps post. Or would someone like to take the time to post a basics 101 on them here. It sounds like it would definately improve scanning if you knew how to use them right.

Thanks
Mike