PSR-500 antenna specs?

[MarcInIllinois]

Is the antenna that comes with the psr-500 an 'all purpose, all bands' antenna or is it 'tuned' moreso for 800mhz bands?

 

[scanfan03]

It's just a wire inside a thick piece of rubber. Therefore, it is an all purpose antenna that isn't good for any band really.

 

[RodStrong]

My OEM antenna was very loose fitting, so I replaced it with a RS 800mhz antenna. But, for what it's worth, the OEM antenna seemed decent enough for me.

I only listen to a digital 800 system, so the RS antenna is great for me.

Good luck.

 

[wa5jot]

PSR-500 Antenna

My antenna analyzer shows a distinct resonant "dip" at around 150 MHz on both my Pro-96 & PSR-500 stock antennas. This means that it cannot be "just a wire". Some amount of series inductance is required to resonate this short antenna at that frequency. I would think the manufacturer would also resonate the antenna on 800 as well, since these scanners are intended for that range, but my analyzer doesn't go high enough to verify that. A simple solution to make it "dual band" would be to place a small inductor of about .8 uh about 3.2 inches up from the bottom. This gives a full 1/4 wave antenna at 800 on the bottom half, while the inductance makes the antenna look like 1/4 wave for 150. This can be verified with commercial antenna design software. I'm not going to ruin my (loose) 500's antenna to see what's inside, but it is clearly more than just wire. And, being tuned doesn't necessarily make an antenna "good". This is a general purpose antenna, and no one antenna, no matter how expensive, is perfect for all the frequencies we cover with our scanners. But some are clearly better than stock.

bob baldwin since 1945
WA5JOT since 1964
bryan, texas

Pro -96
PSR-500
AR-8000
MFJ-259B antenna analyzer
EZNEC 5 antenna design software

 

[KC9NEG]

Impressive... OT, but do you have a recommendation for a superior "all band" antenna for the PSR-500?

TIA,
Todd/Indy

 

[wa5jot]

Recommendation

No recommendations - way too subjective. No one antenna will make everyone happy. Rich Wells website has lots information on hand held, mobile and base antennas: http://www.strongsignals.net/access/content/antenna.html

bob baldwin

 

[KC9NEG]

Subjective opinion is just fine

Todd/Indy

 

[DaveIN]

I have an idea the stock antenna has the same specifications as the right-angle bend antenna available on the GRE web store. The data sheet can be downloaded here:
http://www.greamerica.com/download/specs/30-0028.pdf

 

[mancow]

I would disagree. That right angle looks to be a regular dipole type. They were seen on the old 800 AMPS bag phones.

I would put money on it that the stock GRE antenna is just a helical spring antenna like any other Vhf portable antenna.

 

[DickH]

... I'm not going to ruin my (loose) 500's antenna to see what's inside, but it is clearly more than just wire. ...

I have "unveiled" one of those lousy Radio Shack rubber ducks. Inside is a copper-colored coil about 1/4" in diameter and 5-1/4" long (just about the full length of the rubber cover).
The material is about the size of #16AWG wire, much harder than copper, and acts like a stiff spring.
It would be interesting to see how the 800MHz version is made.

 

[mancow]

Those 800s are usually a piece of coax with a metal tube crimped on the braid that extends downward from the place where the center conductor is exposed. The center conductor and its insulator form the thinner upper part. It's just a simple vertical dipole with a concentric ground element that surrounds the coax that comes out the bottom of it.