Scanner Advice

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WillB

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Henry County
Hope this is in the right section,if not forgive me. I'm interested in getting a scanner for the house but really have no clue as to what I would need. I'm in Henry county and would like to be able to pick up Lee,Des Moines, Jefferson, Van Buren,Keokuk, Washington and Louisa Counties. I have some of the counties programmed into my personal radio that I use for the FD but some don't come in well on them and I don't like tying up my radio all the time if I'm listening to stuff.

Is this something that can be achieved with a hand held scanner or do I need a base model? What about an antenna? I'd really rather not have to mount one on the roof of my house but I imagine that I'm probably asking to much out of either a hand held or base model.

Thanks
 

kilowa22

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Feb 22, 2010
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338
Location
Oregon
You will need an outside antenna for listening to distance stations. However, you don't have to buy a huge antenna with a high cost. All you need to do is get an antenna about 18 inches in length in a clear place on the roof and have it vertical. You can also use J-pole antennas, put if you need stealth or to please the better half you should check out the Ventenna.

J-pole antennas J-pole antenna - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ventenna Ventenna

I have had 18 inch metal portions of coax wire painted black on apartment roofs with great results and stealth.
 

IowaGuy1603

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Jun 2, 2006
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994
Location
Jones County Iowa
ANT135BNC, INDOOR BASE OR MOBILE ALL BAND SCANNER ANTENNA, WITH BNC CONNECTOR - Scanner World - The Largest Dealer of Scanning Radios in the World On top of the refridge or upstairs on a metal cabinet

Magnet-mount mobile scanner antenna - RadioShack.com mount same as above


Outdoor VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna - RadioShack.com mounted on a pole or in your attic


They all will work fairly well if you really don't want to install one on your roof. I have the third one on a 15 ft pole and hear pretty good @ roughly 40 miles or so on VHF and UHF------don't listen much to 800

You don't NEED a base scanner if you want to be able to take it with you. Reception is MOSTLY dependent on your antenna placement. With a proper antenna a hand held will have as good performance as a base model......
 

WillB

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Jul 8, 2009
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Henry County
Ok this is probably a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyways. Will a scanner have a better range then a 2 way radio? As I said in my first post, the reception on some counties isn't that great.
 

JoeyC

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San Diego, CA
Ok this is probably a stupid question but I'm going to ask it anyways. Will a scanner have a better range then a 2 way radio? As I said in my first post, the reception on some counties isn't that great.

You will probably see superior results on the 2-way radio (as long as it is operating within its band limits) than the scanner if they are using the same antenna. If you use the scanner with an outdoor antenna high up and the 2-way is simply on its rubber ducky at ground level, you MIGHT find better reception coming out of the scanner.
 

WillB

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Jul 8, 2009
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Henry County
I have another question that I have been thinking about. Can I put a splitter and run multiple cables off of one antenna? Like if I have a scanner in 2 different rooms for example. Will that cause an interference problem or weaken the signal at all?
 

n5ims

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