I am wanting to put an outside antenna up, I want very low profile and was thinking about using a mobile antenna with a base mount with ground plane. What are your thoughts? As of right now my area is mainly VHF High P25 I-II, and I am hearing of a 7/800 trunked system coming in the next year or so. I have several scanners I use, SDS100, 996XT, 396XT and a couple others
I use one of the Larsen antennas mentioned above hooked up to my old scanner in my office at work.
Simple and effective, works just fine for what I need. You won't go wrong with one of those. It'll perform well on VHF, UHF and 7-800MHz.
The base mount gives you the necessary ground plane under the antenna as well as the bracket to mount it to a pole or other support.
Key with any antenna is to get it as high up as you safely can. The more it can 'see', the more you'll hear.
And, absolutely on the N connector base. UHF connectors are not ideal for the higher frequencies. N connectors perform better and have some inherent level of waterproofing, but when used outdoors, still require proper sealing.
Use high quality coaxial cable. Exact type will depend on how long your run is.
Consider that National Electric Code also requires proper grounding of the mast and a lightning protector where the coax enters the home.
Done right, this should be a good setup.