Scanner antenna

[Bullmax]

Does anyone know where to buy an antenna for a 396xt scanner in the London area. The one that came with mine does not seem powerful enought so I would like to get a bigger and better one.

 

[Muxlow]

Could try Spectrum Communications.. Its just a SMA antenna im sure they could order one if they dont have any in stock.. If not Ebay. I got a VHF one for my radio from toronto

 

[gary123]

scanner antennas are general purpose, they work Ok on all bands. if you get a new antenna it is often best as muxlow suggested to get one for the freq band you listen to most.

 

[Saint]

Antenna's

Does anyone know where to buy an antenna for a 396xt scanner in the London area. The one that came with mine does not seem powerful enought so I would like to get a bigger and better one.

For Canadian places I use these two places

Durham Radio Sales and Service Canada

and

Radioworld : Amateur & Ham Radio GPS Chartplotters Fishfinders VHF Marine SSB radios Shortwave Radio Scanners CB GMRS Toronto Ontario Canada

Steve

 

[EJB]

Or try these guys Lakeshore Communications.
They were cheaper than Durham and a lot nicer and if you are driving in from the west you will save yourself KM's, driving to Toronto is hard enough, thru it to the east end and then back thru it again...

Raydio

416 675 2929 230, ask for Gabriel

 

[Chrome69]

Or try these guys Lakeshore Communications.
They were cheaper than Durham and a lot nicer and if you are driving in from the west you will save yourself KM's, driving to Toronto is hard enough, thru it to the east end and then back thru it again...

Raydio

416 675 2929 230, ask for Gabriel

I always found Lakeshore a bit pricey Save a few more dollars and order 2 or 3 antennas and have them shipped. i personally like dealing with Durham but form time to time i will do a Saturday trip to RadioWorld..

 

[uncleblackie]

Before you spend any money any where, try this:

Tigertail Counterpoise - Part I - YouTube

Every antenna needs a ground plane/counterpoise of some sort to improve both reception and swr on transmit. Unfortunately with HT's and scanners, the counterpoise is basically you. That is why when you grab the antenna in certain places, reception will improve. They don't have much of a ground plane on their own.

I just use a single 18" piece of zip wire crimped onto a 14-16 gauge ring terminal that fits almost perfectly over the female sma connector on my 396xt. then just screw the antenna down on top of it.

I know that most stock antennas are not great and a diamond or something similar would work better, but give this a try first. It doesn't work miracles, but it does make a noticeable improvement.

 

[EJB]

I use a home brew for my radio room. I had the "slicerwizard' give me a mag mount. Then, being useless I had an A&V buddy and my wife (who builds these things for a living) add a SMA clip and good coax and I took a wire hanger and cut it to the specifications for VHF HI. Works about as well as the KSMA antenna that Durham and Lakeshore sell, cost me nothing, coax and SMA clip and work were done for me

 

[EJB]

I always found Lakeshore a bit pricey Save a few more dollars and order 2 or 3 antennas and have them shipped. i personally like dealing with Durham but form time to time i will do a Saturday trip to RadioWorld..

If you dont mind getting ripped on the shipping then by all means deal with Durham. I heard that u were a postie, it doesnt cost $10 to ship an antenna from Durham to Burlington, I can get it done w/o discount for much less dealing with cartage companies.
Lakeshore was offering the KSMA antenna for a few bucks cheaper than Durham when I went there.

The guy who handles scanners is a member here (doesnt seem to post much) and is a nice guy.

I'd rather deal with RadioWorld as my 2nd choice, people are decent there, used to buy stuff from them when they were Atlantic Radio on Badhurst (pronounced as a true Torontonian blue collar class) and Wilson

 

[VA3QRM]

scanner antenna

The Comet SMA 3 works well for me listening to Fleetnet, 400mhz and 800mhz stuff. Available @ the fore mentioned dealers. Has the "bend" in the middle and is flexible above the bend, so my 396T fits nicely in my " scan-purse " a shaving kit type bag.