Pulse Larson NMO 150/450/758 All band whip Antenna

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Seanm214

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Kings Park, NY
Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a laird whipless antenna with mag mount to improve the reception of my RadioShack pro-18 handheld scanner in my car for 800 MHz trunked radio. Unfortunately, this antenna did not improve the reception of the scanner at all. I’m wondering if this Larsen antenna will do the job better than the whipless Laird if anyone knows anybody knows the answer.
Here is the link to the antenna:
 

N5XPM

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Jul 29, 2011
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Texas
Hello everyone,
I recently purchased a laird whipless antenna with mag mount to improve the reception of my RadioShack pro-18 handheld scanner in my car for 800 MHz trunked radio. Unfortunately, this antenna did not improve the reception of the scanner at all. I’m wondering if this Larsen antenna will do the job better than the whipless Laird if anyone knows anybody knows the answer.
Here is the link to the antenna:
What is the Laird part number so we can accurately compare the 2 antennas?
 

W9WSS

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If it's a transit-style antenna, those are far inferior to any upright steel whip. I had similar Laird disguise antennas on my car, and reception was so bad I went to quarter-wave steel whips. Laird TRABT1500.jpg
 

W9WSS

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I have no comment on the coax, but disguise or transit-style antennas are a compromise. I find that they ALL (bands) are slightly worse than a plain 1/4 wave steel whip antenna. We hid the NMO-based 1/4 wave antennas inside the rear window and draped them on the glass. They worked fine on the repeaters but didn't have a Motorola NMO VHF Quarter Wave Antenna 100920.jpgfantastic range on simplex channels.
 

DJ11DLN

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Mudhole, IN
So you’re saying that this antenna could be worse. Why does is matter how long the coax is?
The longer the coax the more signal loss, so the less you use the better. The Larsen is a very good antenna but if you're in an RF-dense area it can cause overload and desense in your scanner.
 

Seanm214

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Kings Park, NY
The longer the coax the more signal loss, so the less you use the better. The Larsen is a very good antenna but if you're in an RF-dense area it can cause overload and desense in your scanner.
Are there certain scanners that will not desense in overload areas like the Uniden BCD436HP or the SDS100 or will they all desense?
 

DJ11DLN

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Are there certain scanners that will not desense in overload areas like the Uniden BCD436HP or the SDS100 or will they all desense?
Some are more prone than others but enough overload will render any radio deaf. The GRE-pattern scanners, which your Pro-18 is, are the worst about it though. Ideally someone in your area will chime in and share their experiences with different models and brands; it's very much a YMMV thing with what works in one place not working somewhere else and vice-versa.
 

hill

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I have this antenna in the link below on a NMO trunk lid mount and works great for my PRO-668. The short 3" whip can't really be seen with being so short and much more low profile than the other antenna. Does't really matter anyway with having two other antennas on the car a ham dual band and 1/4 wave UHF for ham DMR.

 

n5ims

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Jul 25, 2004
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The Larsen is a good antenna, used several for many years. My question is if you only listen to 800 MHz trunking, why don't you get a dedicated 800 MHz antenna? It will work much better than a multi-band antenna and most likely be shorter so fewer garage issues. They will be taller than those "transit style" antennas since they're designed for performance instead of stealth or for very tough duty situations.
 
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