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jesiandabe

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Oct 17, 2006
Messages
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Hey guys, I got my oldschool scanner programed and Im picking up the local crackheads doing what they do best. My next question is what kind of antenna do I need? Right now I have a external cell phone antenna with the connector cut off going straight to the scanner. I can pick up the neighboring county which is about 22 miles away. Do I need a diffrent for vhf and uhf? Im so confused. Any help will be good, thanks alot.


My rig
uniden bc 560xlt it came over on the arc
 

ROY_PICKETT

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Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
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Location
INDIANA Grid # EM68ji
I am using a base c.b. antenna myself..We pick up lafayette indiana and we live in english indiana.. But hay , what ever works for you.. If you pick up everything you have programed into it well enough , stick with what you have.. Good luck...Roy

o'yes...what frequency do crackheads run??
 
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specman

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Nov 1, 2005
Messages
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jesiandabe said:
Hey guys, I got my oldschool scanner programed and Im picking up the local crackheads doing what they do best. My next question is what kind of antenna do I need? Right now I have a external cell phone antenna with the connector cut off going straight to the scanner. I can pick up the neighboring county which is about 22 miles away. Do I need a diffrent for vhf and uhf? Im so confused. Any help will be good, thanks alot.

You didn't give us much to work with. Can you erect an external antenna? There's several multi-band designs that work well for reasonable coverage use, but getting them up high is the key. If you're stuck to keeping your antenna indoors you might want to check out a mobile scanner antenna and try to locate it near a window in the highest place you can get it in your home.
 

jesiandabe

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Oct 17, 2006
Messages
64
Yea I reckon I can use an external antenna just as long as I dont have one the size of a cell phone tower. I just need the specs on what I need to build.
 

specman

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Nov 1, 2005
Messages
171
jesiandabe said:
Yea I reckon I can use an external antenna just as long as I dont have one the size of a cell phone tower. I just need the specs on what I need to build.

Okay, that's a good start. I would strongly recommend visiting this sites Antenna Wiki for a lot of links and info on antennas.

Not sure if you intend on building your own antenna or not, or whether you were just talking about building the mount etc. For mounting arrangements it will depend on your building and what you can do. In general terms you'll need a "mast" of some sort ( a vertical pole) that will hold the antenna. This can be attached to the side of the building, rooftop tripod mount, vent pipe, tower etc etc. I'm a big advocate for proper installation techniques including a ground system, and would recommend that you follow guidelines on that. You'll need to decide on where you can feed your coax into your house; sometimes this can be a major pain.
 
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