PSR-310 horrible in car?

[Sealilly]

Another newbie question, my PSR-310 is great in house, lousy in the car. Is this the deal with all handhelds? Do i need a different antenna for mobile scanning? If yes, any recommendations?

 

[AirScan1]

Yes you need a mobile scanning antenna
The magnetic mount scanning antenna are good.
You have choice of kind of mobile sntenna you want.

Mobile mean car portable on hand held base is home

Find 1 at scanner master or scanner world.

 

[gmclam]

Psr-310

Among the scanners I use in a vehicle, I like my PSR-310 the best. I like the white backlit display and the fact it has 20 to 22 scan lists (depending on how you count).

I will add that the only time I use a rubber antenna on a scanner is when I am using it hand-held such out somewhere on foot. If I am home it is connected to an outdoor antenna, and if I am in an auto I have it connected to an external antenna.

I too use magnetic mounts when mobile. I like the fact that I can totally remove the antenna at a moments notice. I have a couple of different models and they work very well. Plus one focus of mine is CHP which is on low band VHF. An external antenna is essential for that.

 

[AirScan1]

I be getting my Gre Psr 310 this friday
it will take some what to manualy program it until i get program cord using my pc


Yes a magnetic mount will also prevent theft.
and I hate Scanner thives.

 

[Halfpint]

Hmmmmm... I've been using my PSR-310/700 RS-97 scanners mobile *without* an external antenna for quite sometime without any reception problems. My useage has been in `Urban', `Suburban' *and* `Rural' situations. All models have basically only had the supplied antenna used on them with the only occasional exception being when I've been doing some fairly heavy `foaming' AKA `Railscanning'. I've also used my PSR 500/800 scanners with only a change to the RS800Mhz under similar situations. (`Foaming' being the only exception as I use the PSR-500/800 scanners mainly for listening to `Public Safety' and not for the rail communications.)

 

[AirScan1]

don't you think that all scanners can pick railroad.

 

[Rt169Radio]

Another newbie question, my PSR-310 is great in house, lousy in the car. Is this the deal with all handhelds? Do i need a different antenna for mobile scanning? If yes, any recommendations?

If the handheld scanner is using a handheld antenna. The cars shell covers most signals that your scanner can receive, so a mobile antenna would be something good to look at.

 

[N8JQJ]

I use a thru glass mount scanner antenna on my truck. So far it has done the job to my satisfacton. I am not sure how they stack up performance-wise to a mag mount, but I am not having to deal with running a cable through a window or door seal, and dealing with potential water intrusion.

 

[gmclam]

What are you missing?

Hmmmmm... I've been using my PSR-310/700 RS-97 scanners mobile *without* an external antenna for quite sometime without any reception problems.

You have no idea of what you are NOT receiving.

One agency I focus on, especially when mobile, is the CHP. They are on VHF low band. That's a fairly large signal (~7 meters) to get in to your vehicle. If everything you're receiving is UHF, that's different; but still no comparison to a good quality external antenna.

I might also note that I've always monitored CHP mobile frequencies, which are direct from their autos and not transmitted from some high mountain top. Even now that they've added "repeating", I monitor the mobile freqs and often get a better signal than is from the base (I must be close to them - lol).

 

[Halfpint]

You have no idea of what you are NOT receiving.

Well... Since I don't live in CA I don't think that you would really know just what I *might* be missing. However, since I've been living and scanning in CO since the early '70s I *do* know that whatever I *may* be `missing' isn't anything worth listening to in the first place. (When I am mobile I can hear just about everything I need to hear and the *only* reason I may not hear something is that I might not have *enough* scanners with me at that time. Depending upon what time of the year it is I usually have 2 or 3 scanners which pretty much provides plenty coverage.)

One agency I focus on, especially when mobile, is the CHP. They are on VHF low band. That's a fairly large signal (~7 meters) to get in to your vehicle. If everything you're receiving is UHF, that's different; but still no comparison to a good quality external antenna.

Hmmmmm... `Large' signal? `Getting into' a vehicle? Oh, well... Whatever `floats your boat'. I *will* admit that if one is wanting to listen to something out of EBFE *no matter* how far away one is *then* one may need to use some sort of antenna that actually has some gain above `unity'. Though that may also mean that that antenna is probably going to be larger than most people would want to have on whatever vehicle they are driving. (I *have* seen some *supposed* `mag mounts' that come close to qualifiying for that category but, usually those have either been CB antennas or some `whacker's dream' as to what makes their `ride' `sexy'.)

I might also note that I've always monitored CHP mobile frequencies, which are direct from their autos and not transmitted from some high mountain top. Even now that they've added "repeating", I monitor the mobile freqs and often get a better signal than is from the base (I must be close to them - lol).

Like I said at the beginning... You live in CA, I live in CO and I get more than sufficent reception of the various systems and agencies that concern me. (Amazingly enough there actually are times when I either find myself wishing that I could limit my reception or I actually resort to using a `stubbyduck'.)