I hear there is a BNC portable scanner antenna, from RS that is supposed to "outweigh" all its more expensive competitors. Anybody know about the overall rating for this one?
I hear there is a BNC portable scanner antenna, from RS that is supposed to "outweigh" all its more expensive competitors. Anybody know about the overall rating for this one?
I'd guess you're talking about the 800 MHz antenna that Radio Shack sold for years.
I have that antenna, and I can confirm that it does indeed perform better in the 700 to 800 MHz range than the stock antennas that come with most scanners. It doesn't perform particularly well in the VHF-lo or VHF-hi ranges, but that's to be expected for an antenna that's specifically tuned for 800 MHz reception.
I think Remtronix is the name of the company that sells this particular antenna now.
It's equivalent is the Remtronix REM-800B (BNC), REM-800S (SMA), and the REM-820S (SMA custom for the Uniden SDS100)
I think Remtronix was the O.E.M. for the RS-800. They can be purchased here:
I have the RS version as well. It works great. It does a good job on UHF as well. I've found that it is pretty good on VHF-Hi, though not as good as an antenna tuned for that range.
These are quite long and have a telescoping section section that needs to be adjusted for each band to obtain the best performance. Be sure to choose the correct connector BNC, SMA. Also be very careful not to put too much stress on the antenna mount of your scanner as these would provide a lot of leverage and possible damage the scanner of you put any force on it.