DLuccia
Member
I am looking for opinions on the "Spectra" antenna for use on my truck by others that have one good or bad
Thanks
Dan
Thanks
Dan
Opinions wanted on Austin Antennas "Spectra"
- Thread starter DLuccia
- Start date
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It receives pretty well across the bands, but it screams "SCANNER INSIDE", and is quite possibly the ugliest antenna ever. Also, its not a good idea for the roof of a truck that might ever go in a garage. (I have 2 in storage in case I ever go back to a smaller vehicle)
DLuccia
Member
I am planning on either mounting it on either my back rack or doing a hook on mount between the hood and fender haven't decided yet
I had one and wasn't all that impressed with it, considering how much it costs.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
It works quite well on my Camry with a heavy duty Diamond mount. I think most folks that say that it didn't work well for them forgot 1 thing - the antenna must have a good ground (and I confirmed this with an Austin tech some years ago when I got it). My poor old 245 gets nailed with intermod when I'm in the Woodlawn area, but that's the scanner's fault, not the antenna.
You can cut the top whip to improve the VHF lo band sensitivity somewhat. While it's not actually designed to work on the civil air band, it does seem to work fairly well there - I can, at times, copy Potomac a/d (both sides) when I'm near Security Square mall. The one thing I really like about the antenna is that it's sturdy - it survived several nasty snow and ice storms (including the Great Blizzard of a few years ago) with nary a problem.
Until I get my 396 - when I intend to put several milair freqs, and I don't expect the Spectra to work well there, since it's not designed for it - I'm keeping mine.
73s Mike
You can cut the top whip to improve the VHF lo band sensitivity somewhat. While it's not actually designed to work on the civil air band, it does seem to work fairly well there - I can, at times, copy Potomac a/d (both sides) when I'm near Security Square mall. The one thing I really like about the antenna is that it's sturdy - it survived several nasty snow and ice storms (including the Great Blizzard of a few years ago) with nary a problem.
Until I get my 396 - when I intend to put several milair freqs, and I don't expect the Spectra to work well there, since it's not designed for it - I'm keeping mine.
73s Mike
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