Radio Shack 20-176 & Uniden BC350C New install

[fuzzymoto]

I've been talking in several of the sub-forums on here about a new scanner setup and some of the cities I was trying to hear. I promised a follow up to describe a new antenna setup that is working great....so here it is. I had been hearing quite a bit but I was targetting the police/fire frequencies in a city about 20 miles away and an airport tower frequency about 25-miles away. In both cases I was hearing absolutely nothing on the frequencies they use.

My scanner is a BC350C. I started with the cheap telescopic antenna on the back of the scanner, then moved up to the "car" antenna that came with my scanner. As I described earlier this "car" antenna was a male BNC connector with a 36-inch black microphone-type cable that ends in a 22-inch clear insluated copper wire. It has two suction cups, one where it chanes from black to clear and one at the end. Using this "car" antenna improved my signal but still no target city or airport frequencies.

Next I ran 50-feet of old DishTV dual coax (I THINK it's RG-6) cable to my upper attic (about 8 feet above my scanner). While I waited for the antenna adapter/connector to arrive in the mail I pushed the telescopic antenna against the coax end in the attic and connected the other end to my scanner with a BNC adapter I already had. Again my reception improved noticeable but still no reception in the target city or airport.

When the connector arrived I attached the "car" antenna in my attic hanging vertically from the rafters. Again my reception improved but still not even a weak signal from my targets.

LAST NIGHT....I purchased the Radio Shack 20-176 antenna and a PL-259 to F-type adapter. First off I was amazed at how small this antenna is. I was dissapointed after seeing the picture on the web site (even knowing the overal measurements) how tiny it really was. Right off the bat I was feeling pessimistic. It took me an hour to assemble the antenna setup. I fastened the antenna U-bolt to the plastic handle of an old ski pole, then cut the bottom off the ski pole and put it in an old wooden telescope tripod. Yes it is a funny looking setup but it holds the antenna firmly in place with the tip just shy of the peak of my attic ceiling. Next I very roughly aimed the gap in the lower 3 antenna radials toward my target city and tightened the set screw for the tripod in place.

With the dual cable in place I was able to leave the old "car" antenna connected for comparison. When I connected the new antenna it seemed right off the bat that reception was better. I switched to my weather broadcast and it was completely clear with no static (it was very staticy before). I also picked up some other weather broadcast on a frequency I had never heard before. I scanned through my private bank and everything came in clearer. Next I scanned around in the 150's and there it was! I heard a fire call in my target city and eventually found their police frequency also. Success! next I scanned around until I heard a plane (which is not unusual)...but then I heard someone talk back to the plane. I checked the frequency and sure enough it was my loacl airport tower! Success again!...and all of this on a $24.99 antenna, a $5.49 connector, some recycled sattelite cable, a chopped off ski pole and a 20 year-old telescope tripod sitting in my attic!

This is all very exciting for me. If I was previously hearing a weak signal I would suspect an antenna would improve that weak signal...but I never expected to go from hearing NO signal to hearing them completely.

The new antenna now sits in my attic. Now I'm VERY curious for what it may do outside on the peak of that roof. This will raise it about 5 feet more AND get it outside the house. I suspect it will be even better...but that will have to wait for spring. Any opinions on that move??

In the end I'd highly reccomend this antenna. It is small and stealthy, cheap, and for the bands I listen to (148-174 and 450-460) it works great. I'd be happy to answer any questions if someone else is thinking about buying this antenna. I listen all over the bands and it seems to work great everywhere. I don't hear anything in the 900Mhz range but I don't think there is anything in my area using 900Mhz.

I only had a half hour to listen last night. I can't wait to tune in tonight to see what new stuff I can find and again tomorrow night when we are supposed to get a serious snow and ice storm. Yes I am now officially addicted.

 

[mgosdin]

Congratulations on getting the 20-176 up and working. I'm glad it's doing what you wanted with the Fire, PD & Air in your local area.

It's a good feeling when you can get what you want without having to spend a fortune.

Mark Gosdin

 

[fuzzymoto]

I NEVER thought it would actually pull in things I wasn't even getting a weak signal on. I'm very surprised at how big a difference it makes. Of course it makes me wonder what it will do outside or what a larger antenna will do outside. I guess I have until spring to think about it since my roof has about 10-inches of snow on it now.

It's a very good feeling to make this sort of improvement for $30. I'll have to submit a picture since it looks hillarious....old dish TV cable, a wooden tripod and a chopped off K2 ski pole!

Now...the problem is my 50-channel limit in my private bank is suddenly FULL.

 

[oregontreehugger]

Glad you're able to pull in those distant signals now! For $30 what you did can't be beat, especially if you're having great results like that.

Next step is a scanner with more channels.

 

[mgosdin]

Oh yes, the joys of running up against the limits of what your equipment can do.

When I bought it back in 1997, I never thought I'd need more than the 50 Channels my Pro-70 has. Then I got to seriously looking at what I wanted to hear last winter and came up with at least 130 frequencies, without going into trunking! So I bought a Pro-2051 with 1000 channels ( Overkill ) on sale back in the spring, then I got a Pro-83 with 200 channels ( Plenty for the non-trunking ) and finally a BC246t with I don't know how many channels since it's dynamic.

As it stands I don't find myself using even a fraction of the Pro-2051 or BC246t's capabilities, but I like having the ability to dedicate one to VHF High and the other to UHF & 800 Trunked.

You can have a lot of fun building your Listening Station up, take your time and enjoy it!

Mark Gosdin

 

[fuzzymoto]

Yes...only 50-channels in my private bank. I have 50 in there now and another 75+ I want to add (and that's with the old antenna). When I first started searching I saved anything that made a noise in my private bank. Now I've learned to be more selective. Unfortunately with the new antenna I can hear quite a bit more so it is much harder to be selective. It's also hard now because MANY frequencies in my private bank are very active and it sucks when the Taxi company steps on a fire call or something like that. I guess ideally I'd like to have multiple private banks, one perhaps for my local fire/police, maybe one for more distant fire/police, a third for situational things like our EMA, corrections/road departments (storms) and a fourth for other stuff like taxis, delivery vans (things to listen to on a slow night), and maybe even a fifth for things I'm researching but haven't heard yet. Also the ability to chain one or many of them together and scan for example local police/fire and distant police/fire at the same time. As for a new toy...I think the close call feature sounds interesting too, temporary lock out sounds cool and alpha tagging is a must. PA is also using some sort of system called opensky that I don't think can be scanned. Of course larger banks are a must and maybe some ability to program it from a computer or even monitor it with a computer would be fun. Finally being able to do a narrower search (like searching 160-162 instead of having to do all of 148-174) and being able to deal with those pesky tones would help also. All this and I don't even have a trunked system in my area, YET (so I con't even know what I would need for that). I'm betting I didn't describe an existing model or did it? I also hear Uniden is coming out with some sort of new scanner with GPS. With so many changes (rebanding, opensky, trunking...) I'm thinking I may wait and see what happens...but I do see how people get addicted and end up with multiple radios. Eventually I'll get tired of juggling everything I want to hear and get a new one....maybe sell my BC350C or take it to work since I only paid $40 for it. I'm loving it but I'm sure there will eventually be a new toy in my future. For now I have a lot to learn about it since most of the terminology is still confusing. It's a little crazy now with the new antenna since I'm hearing (and trying to identify) all sorts of new stuff...but it is a blast. It would be neat to have a scanner Tivo device that records everything it hears so you can play it back later....I miss so much when I have to go to work.

By spring I'll see if it is worth the hassle to go out on the roof with it.

 

[srt1026]

" It would be neat to have a scanner Tivo device that records everything it hears so you can play it back later....I miss so much when I have to go to work."


http://www.davee.com/scanrec/

 

[fuzzymoto]

Interesting...thanks

 

[KC4ZEX]

You can't beat a good 1/4 wave antenna for the frequencies you are listening to for the money. I don't think a discone would have been any better if as good. If their was any activity on low band in your area you will suffer quite a bit of loss there. If you put it a couple feet above the roof top in the spring it will get betteragain. You might look around for another used scanner and get a splitter coupler mentioned today in some of the other forums. Put both scanners on the antenna. As far as the opensky we will probably never be able to receive that. A lot of the new stuff will be encripted digital and not be available. Their are already two or three systems in some places that cannot be scanned with any available scanner. You will probably soon tire of the taxi's and delievry stuff no excitment there. Look for some two meter ham repeaters used in bad weather or storm spotting. Maybe even some 440 repeaters. Have a great time you will never get tired of listening, or hunting for more.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks. So far so good. I'm finding quite a bit of new stuff. I did find some of our local game commision officers down in the 46 area and they sounded OK to me...and I know they are not very close by. I probably will get it up on the roof in spring just to see what I can hear up there. Hopefully someone will figure out a way to scan the opensky since it sounds like PA is moving many agencies toward that system. Actually if it is slow the Taxis are very entertaining. So far in bad weather they are the most reliable source for road conditions in my work area. They talk all the time about road conditions so I get a pretty clear picture on how the roads are in a storm. I'll be busy listening tonight and tomorrow since we're getting another big storm with snow and ice. Thanks again.

 

[Dank]

recording option

Although rather primative I have used the following method to take regular radio programs while gone all day.

Run a cable from your scanner audio output into your vcr's (if you have one) audio input. Then program your vcr to tape 9am to 5pm for example using an 8hr tape on the slowest option. To listen to my recordings I run my vcr audio output into my stereo. It sounds much better than a mono tv speaker.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Interesting. I was also toying with the idea of voice acivate mini-dictation recorder....

 

[TeRayCodA]

Why not download the Xcorder mentioned in the scanning forum? It is an excellent VOX recording software that registers a date/Time stamp.Ihave been using it for a month and love it!
Use this link:


http://sac-ftp.externet.hu/educult36.html

About half-way down the page,

(the other links were dead)

It records transmissions on a .wav file,to your hard drive.It is really great.I have been logging some pretty intense simulated military aircraft dogfights.
All you need is a audio cable from your scanner's speaker out,to your PC's Line input.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Thanks I'll try it out if I can find an audio cable.

 

[TeRayCodA]

Fuzzy;
I saw some at wal-mart yesterday,they are located in the Ipod display section.It will be a 3 or 6ft audio patch cable,1/8" stereo-to-stereo(3 conductor)connector.
Or,rat-shack has them.

 

[fuzzymoto]

Just got one....thanks.

 

[airgreek]

Wow you guys were not lying. UHF/VHF and 800mhz come in very well. This antenna has to be the sleeper hit of the year! I am in awe and I dont evewn have it on the attic. I have it right next to me!

 

[fuzzymoto]

Try it in your attic....I still can't believe what I am hearing so far.

 

[TeRayCodA]

Try it on a 20 or 30ft pole(if you can) outside,you'll really like it.

 

[fuzzymoto]

I was suggesting he try it higher in the house...I guess I assumed he had winter weather and 1 foot of snow on the roof like I do. I'm HOPING that when I get mine out on my roof it will be noticeably better. I guess we'll see. I assume it can't get worse unless the grounding setup messes it up. I'll plan to put it on the upper roof (very near where it is now), but probably not up on a large pole. We get some serious wind, weather and tree branches. Even though it's only $25 I'd hate to have it wiped out in mid winter and not be able to fix it.