Home Patrol 1 Antenna
- Thread starter Flair
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any particular band or set of frequencies you are interested in?
It goes without saying, that almost no short antenna attached to the HP1 is going to work as well as even a modest outdoor antenna....properly installed and fed with quality coax!
It goes without saying, that almost no short antenna attached to the HP1 is going to work as well as even a modest outdoor antenna....properly installed and fed with quality coax!
I have used a few different portable antennas on the HP1, and none work as well as the SRH789.
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W8RMH
Feed Provider Since 2012
I don't think any BOS antenna will reach 30 miles, especially on P25 and newer systems.
JamesO
Member
If you are not going with an outdoor antenna, then a Pre-amp is going to be needed.
There are issues with Pre-amps when you are close to other transmitters like FM and TV or Paging transmitters.
These are some good, low cost Pre-amp suggestions.
Ultra Low Noise Amplifier 10 - 3000 MHz Gain 20dB NF=0.65 dB with ESD + Bias Tee | eBay
Adjustable gain LNA - microsoft xbox gift card | eBay
You will need a SMA barrel or a SMA to SMA cable to connect these Pre-amp.
You can also read this thread - http://forums.radioreference.com/sp...mp-10-off-december-other-useful-rx-items.html
As mentioned there is almost NO way you will be able to receive a 700-800 MHz P25 system from 25 miles away with a on scanner antenna inside the house. Even outside without a Pre-amp this may be difficult.
For example, I am located somewhat in a hole and have a fair amount of trees around where I live. My house has the foil backed foam insulation under brick and aluminum siding so I like partially in a Faraday cage. I can hear my local P25 system reasonable will with an antenna on the scanner, but the radio is fairly deaf for may other things in my area. Where I have some radios in the Family room which is more toward the core of the house, I have questionable local P25 system reliability.
I current have antennas in the attic and before adding a the Mini-Circuits Low Noise Pre-amp, I had a better coverage, but still could not hear a P25 system in the adjacent county this is only 3-4 miles as the crow flies. The beauty of having a quality LNA mounted right at the antenna connection is you can have sub par coax. I have probably close to 100 feet of RG6, I could not easily run a better coax due to space and access and I would still need close to 100 feet anyway. So quality coax can be substituted with the right station configuration.
After adding the Mini-Circuit Low Noise Pre-amp I can now reliably hear the adjacent county and many other systems and users I would never hear before. If the Spring I will likely be moving at least 1 antenna outside of the attic on top of the house once I get the best Pre-amp and FM Broadcast band filtering which is much easier to test and configure while the antenna is in the attic. I can go into the attic night or day regardless of the weather to make changes or adjustments, not so easy once I get the antenna and Pre-amp mounted on the roof.
The trick to any of these Pre-amps is to have as Low Noise as you can afford and have the Amp mounted right at the base of the antenna. If you need additional Amps to overcome coax and/or splitter loss, you can use additional amplifiers that are not as Low Noise and not as expensive. The antenna system or performance of the system is based on the FIRST stage amplifier, anything beyond the FIRST stage amplifier has a very negligibly effect on the Antenna/LNA performance as long as the cascaded Amps are not compressed or over driven.
There are issues with Pre-amps when you are close to other transmitters like FM and TV or Paging transmitters.
These are some good, low cost Pre-amp suggestions.
Ultra Low Noise Amplifier 10 - 3000 MHz Gain 20dB NF=0.65 dB with ESD + Bias Tee | eBay
Adjustable gain LNA - microsoft xbox gift card | eBay
You will need a SMA barrel or a SMA to SMA cable to connect these Pre-amp.
You can also read this thread - http://forums.radioreference.com/sp...mp-10-off-december-other-useful-rx-items.html
As mentioned there is almost NO way you will be able to receive a 700-800 MHz P25 system from 25 miles away with a on scanner antenna inside the house. Even outside without a Pre-amp this may be difficult.
For example, I am located somewhat in a hole and have a fair amount of trees around where I live. My house has the foil backed foam insulation under brick and aluminum siding so I like partially in a Faraday cage. I can hear my local P25 system reasonable will with an antenna on the scanner, but the radio is fairly deaf for may other things in my area. Where I have some radios in the Family room which is more toward the core of the house, I have questionable local P25 system reliability.
I current have antennas in the attic and before adding a the Mini-Circuits Low Noise Pre-amp, I had a better coverage, but still could not hear a P25 system in the adjacent county this is only 3-4 miles as the crow flies. The beauty of having a quality LNA mounted right at the antenna connection is you can have sub par coax. I have probably close to 100 feet of RG6, I could not easily run a better coax due to space and access and I would still need close to 100 feet anyway. So quality coax can be substituted with the right station configuration.
After adding the Mini-Circuit Low Noise Pre-amp I can now reliably hear the adjacent county and many other systems and users I would never hear before. If the Spring I will likely be moving at least 1 antenna outside of the attic on top of the house once I get the best Pre-amp and FM Broadcast band filtering which is much easier to test and configure while the antenna is in the attic. I can go into the attic night or day regardless of the weather to make changes or adjustments, not so easy once I get the antenna and Pre-amp mounted on the roof.
The trick to any of these Pre-amps is to have as Low Noise as you can afford and have the Amp mounted right at the base of the antenna. If you need additional Amps to overcome coax and/or splitter loss, you can use additional amplifiers that are not as Low Noise and not as expensive. The antenna system or performance of the system is based on the FIRST stage amplifier, anything beyond the FIRST stage amplifier has a very negligibly effect on the Antenna/LNA performance as long as the cascaded Amps are not compressed or over driven.
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JamesO
Member
My common statement is there is no such thing as lightening protection, it is all about damage reduction.
Lightening is a concern, but you have to think about what is around your antenna. Will it be the highest thing in the area or are there large trees around that will likely buffer the antenna from being the primary lightening attraction in the area.
It is always a good idea to connect the antenna to a good ground wire regardless of the location.
Lightening is a concern, but you have to think about what is around your antenna. Will it be the highest thing in the area or are there large trees around that will likely buffer the antenna from being the primary lightening attraction in the area.
It is always a good idea to connect the antenna to a good ground wire regardless of the location.
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