Pro 651/Pro-106 Scanner Antenna? W-801 Antenna?

[robo21]

I recently purchased a nice soft leather case for my new Pro-651 at Scanner Master and they followed up with an email advertising a W-801 antenna which they claim "is a big improvement over the standard flexible whip normally provided with handhelds."

In my follow up surfing around the Web I have seen more advertising that claims that this antenna offers anywhere from 2 to 6 times the signal grabbing capability of the stock rubber duck antenna that came with my scanner. Some more outlandish ads talk about "100's of times better" reception. Sounds like hogwash to me.

All of these replacement antennas, just like the stock antenna, are compromises in their ability to grab the wide range of signals these scanners were designed to receive. I don't know if someone else's compromise is going to be any better than the stock compromise antenna. So I am calling on the community's experience here.

First, my listening ranges from the CHP down at 43-45mhz occasionally, to city services ranging from 150-166mhz, 450-460mhz, 480-485mhz, 500-510mhz and sometimes 800-830mhz range. Most of my listening (85%) would be in the 480-510 range. I frequently hear broken transmissions in this range so it could be that I need a better antenna.

I am interested in improving my reception but truthfully, I am skeptical that these aftermarket antennas are any better than stock. It makes some intuitive since that a telescoping antenna might help as the wavelength could be adjustable by stretching out or shortening the antenna depending on the target frequencies. However, I don't like the look of this type of antenna so unless it is going to be noticeably better I'd just as soon stick with the stock antenna. The telescoping antenna does have a price advantage but that doesn't matter if it doesn't improve the reception.

Furthermore, I do realize that for the best reception I need a rooftop/outdoor antenna but that would require more time and energy than I can commit at the moment.

So, fellow scanner hobbyists, what are your thoughts? And has anyone tried the W-801 from Scanner Master specifically? a

 

[br0adband]

It basically looks like and works like most any other antenna of a similar design, and at first glance it resembles the Diamond RH-77CA which is arguably one of the most popular antennas for wideband reception in this community so, while I have serious doubts about some of the reviewers claims I suppose if it works for them in their given situations then yes they're going to praise it.

Antenna science and technology is a pretty simple thing once you understand how radio waves and antennas work both from the receive as well as transmit standpoints. If you have two very similar antennas and you're testing them against one another using a specific signal then yes, you'll see some differences across the bands depending on many things: actual implemented design, the materials used, and of course the quality of the construction - there's one antenna maker over in China someplace that uses really crappy solder for their connections when needed and it does affect the product's usefulness, for example.

Having said that I doubt you're going to find any duckie style antenna that just yanks in signals like mad across a wideband reception range, it's just not going to happen. It will work better on frequencies that it's most closely resonant with but not the entire range, certainly not. There was and probably still is an antenna known as the Austin Condor which is a big fat (literally over 1/2" thick) duckie style antenna that I purchased many years ago on the claims from the manufacturer that is was flat out the best "scanner" antenna you could buy because it had multiple elements inside the actual housing hence the thickness. I never bothered to cut mine open and verify that but the idea was it had a "long wire" inside that would reach into the ~50 MHz range, an element cut to 150 MHz, an element cut to 450 MHz, and an element cut to 855 MHz.

Honestly within an hour of getting it and hooking it to my scanner I wanted to return it - I found it to be completely useless in my situation at that time and even the RS 800 MHz antenna which is tuned to ~855 MHz outperformed the Condor across the entire range from 115 MHz to 950 MHz without missing a beat.

So, don't believe the hype most of the time.

Based on what you said, the W-801 will most likely be a great antenna if your primary focus is the 450-512 MHz range (I know you specified 480 but I'm giving it a wider birth there because the antenna is probably resonant for the 440 MHz Ham bands which means it'll work fine for most anything in that area give or take 30-50 MHz. The Diamond RH-77CA would do effectively the same since it also is tuned to the same 440 MHz range (as well as the 146 MHz 2 meter band - both antennas are actually Ham antennas but if you're not transmitting then obviously they work very well as receiving elements for scanners.

Having said that, you're not going to get great or probably even acceptable performance in the 30-50 MHz range with such antennas, they're just too short to be of any real use there. However, in a comparison between the W-801 and the RH-77CA I'd favor the Diamond. Why? Because it's 15" long, that's why, which means it might perform better for the lower frequencies (low frequency = longer antenna elements) - the W-801 is about 8" from the specs so, it may just not perform nearly as well in that case. For that lower range of frequencies the recommendation I'd make is to have a telescopic whip for such things because it will be extendable and tunable with the possibility of getting it resonant at a quarter wavelength for 47 MHz and give you vastly better performance doing so than any duckie style will ever hope to achieve. Diamond has the RH-795 which has markings on the antenna itself etched into the steel to show you where to extend the elements for a given frequency range which is pretty cool. The Radio Shack straight telescopic whip would work just as well (they have one with a loading coil as well), if you can track one down, and of course there are other manufacturers - let's face it, a telescopic whip is a telescopic whip, there's not much one can do to improve things in that respect.

If you'll be using the antenna at home and not really on the go, you could make a dipole from speaker wire, a 300 to 75 ohm adapter/transformer, and a length of of coax to get the signal to the scanner with the necessary connectors on the cable (F type on the antenna end to mate with the transformer, BNC or SMA on the other for attachment to the scanner) and get damned good performance if you cut it to the 1/2 wavelength necessary for the low band VHF that you're hoping to monitor but that's what it'll perform best at.

I made a 1/4 wave ground plane from an SO-239 chassis mount and 5 pieces of coat hanger wire and it outperformed most anything I have ever actually bought and paid for including the Radio Shack ground plane (which has 4 elements) aka "the Sputnik" model 20-176. I had one of those and had high hopes for it but it just didn't work as I'd hoped. After I put together my own 1/4 wave ground plane I was pulling in stuff from all over this Las Vegas metropolitan area from CivAir at 118-136 MHz well into the 935 MHz range (where a lot of casinos have comms here in the area). Cost me like $5 in parts and I'm still amazed at how well it really does work.

And, I use that inside my apartment because I can't mount antennas on the roof or outside (I'm on the 3rd floor of my building which is the top and I have a large 18 story structure immediately beside me as well which happens to block most of the McCarran Airport traffic sadly but I still get some stuff including ground traffic).

Anyway, long story short: the W-801 will more than likely perform well for the frequencies above 115 MHz for you, but it won't perform well at all for the 30-50 MHz VHF low band, not at all. For that you're going to need something that can be extended because the wavelengths are much longer so you'll need to match it, even at 1/4 wavelength, or else you're just going to suffer from bad reception.

Get the W-801, see how it performs, and I will agree with one comment that resonates (pun not really intended but ok) amongst the many reviews: it will outperform any stock duckie antenna you'll ever own. Aftermarket antennas like the W-801, the Diamond models, the RS 800 and telescopic models, etc, are just better antennas period than any stock duckie designed for and included with scanners which is designed and built with the lowest cost materials to save money on construction costs when selling the scanners.

If you don't like the W-801, send it back and try another, and so on till you find one that suits your needs as well as it can and then add another one as needed for the low band requirements.

Merry Christmas.

 

[robo21]

Thank you Broadband! And Merry Christmas to you too!

Thank you Broadband for your thoughtful and insightful response. Your analysis resonates (couldn't resist) with my intuition on this subject, and I am going to take your suggestion and give the W-801 a try. It makes a lot of sense that it would be of better build quality than the stock antenna. And at 8" it will be more portable.

I am also thinking of the Comet BNC-W100RX, it has markings for the various wavelengths, so to that extent it would be somewhat tunable. Theoretically, that sounds good, how much difference that makes in real listening, I have no clue. As you say, trial and error will answer the questions.

I won't limit myself to one aftermarket antenna, but I would like to maximize the return on investment by making informed choices. Responses such as yours are very helpful in this regard. At the moment I have a Pro-651 and a Pro-106, I am thinking about acquiring another maybe a Whistler 1088.

Thank you again, and Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[sibbley]

The W-801 is a pretty good antenna. I do get good results across the board. I have one in SMA and BNC connectors. For future reference, I also have the W-881, the 801's longer brother. That works pretty well in the 150-170Mhz range and the 400-512 range, but not so well in the 700-800 range. Although in the 700-800 it is usable.

If the BNC-W100RX is like the Diamond RH789, telescoping with markings for best length for each band, that might work pretty well too. I have an RH789 that I've found to work at it's shortest on 800MHZ, extended about half way for 400-512Mhz and extended all the way on 150-170Mhz.

I've literally spent hundreds of dollars on antennas. I too bought the Austin Condor only to find that it didn't work very well in most situations. In recent months, I've found myself buying antennas from Smiley Antenna tuned to the center of the band I need. Even tuned antennas will have mixed results in some situations, but overall they work much better than wideband antennas.

You certainly can't go wrong with giving the W-801 a try IMHO.