One antenna to use a scanner and a 2m/70cm ham

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Scamper

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I'm relatively new to the scanner and amateur radio scene(working on getting my tech license), but have been interested in them since i got my first CB about 3 years ago. But my question is: is it possible and or practical to use just one antenna for both of these purposes. With the scanner i would want to be able to cover as many bands as possible. or would it just be easier to just have 2 permanent NMO mounts in the roof and just swap out scanner antennas as needed while leaving the 2M/70CM band antenna?
 

ka3jjz

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You're much better off with separate antennas for the scanner and ham stuff. Chances are, one time or another, you will try to transmit on 2 meters on your scanner antenna simply because you forgot to flip a switch or change a jumper. In some cases, that won't matter much, but in others, it can do serious damage to the antenna (and eventually damage the finals on the 2 meter radio). It depends on what you buy, and what it's capabilities are

73 Mike
 

gewecke

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Practical...no. It is much more efficient to use a separate antenna for each band that you want to transmit on,however your scanner will receive fair on almost any antenna. The same is not true if you wish to transmit,hence a tuned antenna is needed here.
n9zas
 

kb2vxa

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...and that should tell you that you can get by with a single 2M/70cM antenna. You may not receive weaker 800MHz signals well but you may save your scanner by not blowing a strong signal into it so it's the lesser of two evils, c'est la vie.
 

BonziBuddy

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Program your 2m/440 radio with the public safety frequencies. That's what I did. You really won't be controlling your scanner while you're driving like you think you will. Just set your radio to scan only the few most important frequencies that you will want to hear. Mine goes PD dispatch, FD dispatch, FD fireground simplex, citywide, cost guard VHF 16. 2m calling. Those are pretty much the only things I will listen to when I'm driving and focused on getting someplace. They're all VHF and UHF so they come in full strength.
 

Scamper

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Thanks for all the information, it’s good to finally find someplace where someone will answer my questions.

BonziBuddy

How would that method work with trunked frequencies?
 

KE5TLF

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Larsen NMO150/450/800 Tri-Band with optional spring base is perfect for this as long as you can accept only hooking it up to one or the other and not both at the same time. The spring base adds just enough to the overall antenna that you really don't even have to tune it but there is a set screw at the base of the whip for doing that too.

Another thing to consider with two antennas is if you don't get enough separtion between them you can fry a scanner front end just as easily that way too.
 

MOGA

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Thanks for all the information, it’s good to finally find someplace where someone will answer my questions.

BonziBuddy

How would that method work with trunked frequencies?

I don't know of a mobile ham 2m transceiver that can handle public TRS. The antenna, when coupled to a suitable receiver, will do just fine with trunked systems tho. So, if your local public safety agencies use trunked radio, then you'll need a scanner in addition to a mobile 2/70 rig if you want to monitor both.
 
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