Mobile Scanner antenna

[BFIFM790]

Hi,

I am looking for advice on picking out a good mobile antenna for my car scanner. I monitor everything from low band up to 800 mhz. I was looking at the Maxrad BMAX 1000, but wanted to see what advice you guys had first.


Can anyone give me some suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

 

[JohnWayne]

You are going to be hard pressed to find a mobile scanner antenna that covers low band through 800MHz. Most are for VHF-hi/UHF/800. That being said, I would recommend the Antenex ABSCANC. In my opinion, the Antenex antennas are much higher quality than the Maxrad brand. I have sold hundreds of the ASCANC (chrome) and ABSCANC (black) without any complaints. If you create a new account on shop.waltel.com, then you will receive a $10 gift voucher, which means the antenna will cost you only $17! I also have various mounts and other items that may interest you.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[akuter]

Anything steltherier? 8)

 

[RolnCode3]

I have both the Antenex and Maxrad antennas that are talked about above. Their performance is pretty dang close to each other. They're pretty good in VHF and UHF, but the 800 is mediocre. The lowband is alright, but definitely not good. Like everyone will tell you, antennas designed for the individual bands will outperform the multibands. I'm currently in the process of acquiring antennas designed for all the different bands I listen to. Then, either swap antennas, or buy scanners dedicated for the antennas.

Anyways, short answer, it doesn't matter too much which one you get. The Antenex is probably higher quality (and Jeff is a good businessman), so that's a good choice.

 

[OTTER]

Does anyone use this multicoupler or have an opinoin? Thanks!

Mobile Antenna Multicoupler
$16.95
CPL63B

Enjoy excellent 30-960 MHZ mobile scanner reception using your existing AM/FM auto antenna!


From Grove

 

[JohnWayne]

The AM/FM antenna multicouplers work about as good as the standard rubber duck that comes with a scanner. That is, they are wideband with no gain. If you need something that is invisible, then they are about your only choice.

You can get stealthy antennas, but they are generally single or, maybe, dual band. Examples would be a cell-style antennas, Phantom antennas, etc. You could put up antennas for each band and then use a receiver multicoupler or diplexer. That would give you pretty good performance.

Jeff

 

[OTTER]

Thanks for the help Jeff!!

 

[W4KRR]

When it comes to VHF low band, you should deceide if you want good reception or stelth. On VHF low band, the antenna needs to be long to get decent reception. I have used the Antenna Specialist MONR52 or MONR53 with good results. Lots of people don't like them because they're large, but that's what you need if you want good VHF low band reception. The shorter antennas mentioned above will work fine on VHF high band and above, but won't do as well on low band.