Scanner Antenna Receive ONLY Cable Advice Request

[JimD56]

I will be running a new All Band Discone in the attic with a straight 30-foot drop right into my shack. In regards to cable; for receive only, Do I need LMR400 or heavy gauge low dB loss cable? I ask because certain Discone manufacturers like MFJ are including 50 feet of RG58. I haven't seen RG58 in years. My current outdoor antenna is homebrew, All Band mobile with a ground plane kit running RG6 cable TV wire 40 feet with adapters. F Type to BNC, into an old Electroline 8 way RF Amplifier
Here is the MFJ Link Amazon.com: MFJ-1868 Vertical Antenna, 6m-23cm discone, UHF: Sports & Outdoors

I'm also looking at Tram, knowing its not the best but this will be indoors

Amazon.com: Tram 1410 Broad Band Discone/Scanner Base Antenna: Electronics

Amazon.com: Tram 1410 Broad Band Discone/Scanner Base Antenna: Electronics

www.amazon.com

 

[bb911]

I will be running a new All Band Discone in the attic with a straight 30-foot drop right into my shack. In regards to cable; for receive only, Do I need LMR400 or heavy gauge low dB loss cable? ... I will be running a new All Band Discone in the attic with a straight 30-foot drop right into my shack.

I definitely wouldn't use RG58 and LMR for a 30 ft run seems like overkill. I'd go with RG 6.

 

[vagrant]

I have that 1410 Tram and if I was going to occasionally transmit into it or needed the best RX out of it, I would use LMR-400 50 ohm cable to keep things friendly. For receive only, using RG6 should work fine, especially when your run is 30~50 feet. Avoid using RG58.

As to the MFJ, would its height fit into your attic? That upper element on the MFJ is for 6 meters, but you're not going to transmit into it, so you should be fine with the Tram.

 

[JimD56]

Yup, No transmitting. I have handhelds for that. I'm thinking the Tram and RG6. I do not need the <25mhz upper element. Thanks. Jim

 

[gmclam]

It depends on the highest frequency you want to receive, and how strong that signal is at your antenna in the attic. There are lots of "loss calculators" available online where you can enter the frequency and your coax brand/model and it will give you the loss @ 30 feet. While LMR-400 MIGHT be overkill, I think RG-58 would be lacking. For runs of 30 feet or less I've found some great RG-6 and that will likely be good.