I'm looking for a good, sturdy directional antenna to hook up to my BCD325P2 to help me monitor digital traffic, but don't know where to start. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks
P25 Directional Antenna
- Thread starter TheFlyingPilot
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doctordialtone
Member
First of all, as discussed in another thread, there's no difference in a digital versus an analog signal.
Antenna for Digital?
Your most likely looking for a Yagi design. It's like the old TV antenna.
The antenna will be designed for the frequencies you want to monitor.
Read more in the Wiki
Antennas
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Sorry, that's what I meant. I'm trying to improve reception for signals around the 860MHz range. Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions
Digital signals are no different than other signals. Most state digital systems are somewhere around 800 Mhz if that's what you mean. Lots of people will chime in but what matters most is what you want to listen to and where you're at. I've got a 15 element yagi and I can pick up towers 60 miles away. Some people get overloaded and use a paper clip for an antenna. More info is needed but probably anything will work well if you're near that tower in Benzie. Coax may be your biggest concern.
doctordialtone
Member
No stupid questions here.
Look through these antennas
Base Antennas for Police Scanner Radios | ScannerMaster.com
I'm looking at picking up either a tower in Empire or one NW of Traverse City, about 25 miles away
doctordialtone
Member
I have the 325P2. It's a great scanner and receives well.
It might work with the stock antenna.
I've been using the Rematronix 800MHz antenna with it, and I can't get any data from either of the towers I'm attempting to reach.
doctordialtone
Member
That's surprising! Are you using good coax?
Do you have good line-of-sight to the transmitting antenna?
One of the big problems I have here is that the town I'm in is in a geographical bowl. I don't have line of sight with anything beyond a mile or so.
doctordialtone
Member
That's a bummer. I grew up in a "bowl". It was a drag.
Good luck with the Yagi. It should help!
I'll be looking into that. Thanks for the help!
Would this work?
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slicerwizard
Member
Yes, it will help a lot, but be sure to mount it with the elements in a vertical orientation.
25 miles is not particularly close for an 860MHz signal.
Remtronics antennas are great, but 25 miles away and being in a bowl basically guarantees the performance you are experiencing. The transmit antenna would have to be fairly high and have a lot of gain to provide reception indoors at your distance. How high can you mount a receive antenna? Can you mount one on your roof? You can try an TV antenna mounted vertically, but I use a simple ground plane antenna cut to 5/8 wave for the center frequency of the main system I monitor. Works well for me, but then again everything's a compromise.
I'll be mounting it on my porch roof, about 15' above ground level. What's this about "mounting it vertically"?
doctordialtone
Member
The radio waves are transmitted from a vetrical antenna.
So the proper "polarization" of the receiving antenna is vertical.
Antenna (radio) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
You want the elements of the antenna to match the angle they are coming towards the antenna.
Like old AM Radio Car antennas.
Like this:
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<---- So like this?This is my first external antenna, if that's not obvious
doctordialtone
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