Radio Shack 20-176 Trouble Shooting

[BlackCat94]

I was getting tired of poor reception on my Uniden Bearcat BC 142 XL on the adjacent counties channels. I live in the very corner of my own county and thusly if there's a medical incident in these other 2 counties I might feel obligated to respond if it was close.

I order a 20-176 Antenna from Radio Shack and some PL-259 coax on eBay. I put it outside about 18ft up on a pole. Grounded with the proper 8 gauge wire and a copper spike into the ground. My reception didn't improve one bit over the collapsible RS antenna I had before.

Came on here and did a bunch of searching and then decided to check stuff out with the ohm meter. Inside of coax and outside are obviously separate. The base and 3 aerials at the bottom are all connected, as is the outside (nut) of the PL-259 when connected. The inner, plus the top 3 are all continuous along with the "bulb" that they come out of. Is this all normal?

Thank you for any clues!

 

[mancow]

It appears to be normal from your description.

Have you tested the coax itself, separate from the antenna?

An easy way to test for breaks is to get both ends and test the continuity from one center pin on one end to one on the other end. Do the same for the outer threaded connector (connector thread to connector thread). Then test from one of the center pins to one of the outer threaded part to make sure it is not conducting and is separate.

You should be noticing a marked improvement in the vhf range with that antenna. There isn't much that can go wrong with one so I would guess there is an issue with your cable.

 

[Monster75]

i have this antenna and it works great and what you described its ok.. check the cable sounds like a bad cable..... what are you using for coaxil

 

[BlackCat94]

I haven't tested the cable end to end but tested each end individually. The inner is definitely separate from the outside. It's the cheapest stuff I could find on eBay, I admit, $10 or so shipped for 25ft.