ok here goes. i dont really know alot about scanner antennas was looking for a good base outside antenna for pickaway and MARCS system conventional frequency was looking at the laird FG8246 omni base antenna seen it on scanner master but dont know enough about scanner antennas to say if it will work or not most of the time i monitor pickaway and MARCS i also have a pro197 if that helps any thanks for any help
Some of the things to think about are:
1. You location and what you want to receive - do you really want to be limited to 800 MHz?
2. Where you intend to mount the antenna - can you mount in the attic or does it have to be outside?
3. What to feed it with - get decent coax but don't go overboard. RG-6 is usually great for scanners.
If you really are OK with limiting yourself to the 800 MHz, then a single-band option would be fine; however, you're going to pay a heavy premium for a commercial-grade antenna. Add to that the extra cost of top-notch feedline and connectors (most commercial-grade antennas use N connectors, which are larger and more expensive).
On the other hand, you can start out with a reasonably-priced antenna made for scanner use along with some reasonable quality feedline and probably get very suitable results. When living in Dublin, for many years I used the Radio Shack 20-176 mounted outside on the vent stack on the roof and fed it with RG-6. I was able to receive a great deal of VHF, UHF and 800 MHz traffic for at least 20 miles in any direction. My total cost outlay for this was about $30 plus the time involved in mounting the antenna on the roof
The RS 20-176 -
Outdoor VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna - RadioShack.com
I live south of Grove City now and use a Radio Shack clone of the Channel Master "Monitenna" (no longer available) mounted in the attic, fed with RG-6. With it, I can generally pick up stuff for at least 40 miles in nearly any direction.... and that's from the attic.
My recommendation is start small and see how it works out. You may find that the simplest solution is the best. If you mount anything outside, make sure the connectors are well sealed with coax-seal so moisture doesn't get into your feedline.
By the way, I still have my old 20-176. It's pretty weather-beaten but it still works and is mounted in my attic where I have it fed with RG-6 and use it to monitor local systems. Still works just fine.