i have a sds 100 and wanting a new antenna. i scan 700mhz p25 and also 100mhz channels any advise for both of those.
SDS100 antenna choices
- Thread starter zac
- Start date
I'd ask:
Which one do you primarily monitor?
If mostly 700, I'd recommend the REM-820S.
For 'wideband", REM-842S, although 100Mhz is still low.
For the low stuff, I personally use an SRH77, but it will need a 'collar' Dremel'd into the base to fit an SDS100.
(Maybe Diamond now makes one that fits...)?
Which one do you primarily monitor?
If mostly 700, I'd recommend the REM-820S.
For 'wideband", REM-842S, although 100Mhz is still low.
For the low stuff, I personally use an SRH77, but it will need a 'collar' Dremel'd into the base to fit an SDS100.
(Maybe Diamond now makes one that fits...)?
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Ultimately, it depends on your proximity to the sites. Densely populated areas will typically be simulcast 800 and VHF for more rural areas. I have a Smiley VHF antenna tuned for 155MHz center frequency on my 436HP, and it works beautifully on both bands. In my opinion, if you're in an area that's saturated with 800, pretty much anything will work. Personally, I'd go for the antenna that's optimized for whichever band is likely to struggle.
Im in north alabama. alot of 700mhz and some analog
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- Feb 22, 2007
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So I have settled on my favorite antenna for SDS 100.
It's kind of a moot point because you can't get them anymore apparently. If you find one grab it, it's the Watson w-801. It's a VHF High, UHF, 700 to 800 MHz coverage.
Some knock UHF performance and VHF high performance, and will show you graphs and charts, it's not the case for me. I've run it through the paces comparable to other antennas In my two big Ziploc bags in its class including old Uniden antennas right after they took over Electra Bearcat back in 1983. Some of the radios included some pretty interesting rubber ducks other than the standard that we all know.
The REM antenna quoted above is the best thing going for 7-800 MHz reception. It used to be the Radio Shack RS 800 years ago which only came in BNC and it was made by GRE who also made Radio Shack scanners at that time, who are rebranded now is Whistler..
Without going into more detail that antenna is available now, I believe they still have the SDS 100 model that has the proprietary o-ring just like the standard issue antenna that maintains the sds100 water resistant classification.
Some standard SMA mounts will not work with the SDS 100 but the ramtronix SMA offerings, o-ring or not, will fit the SDS 100. As good as the ramtronics 7-800 MHz antenna is, although it works rather well on UHF, not so much on VHF High, it's terrible😉
I monitor it all except for of course VHF low band. I have CB 11 m programmed in my scanner but..
If anyone out there can find a Watson w-801, let us know.
It's kind of a moot point because you can't get them anymore apparently. If you find one grab it, it's the Watson w-801. It's a VHF High, UHF, 700 to 800 MHz coverage.
Some knock UHF performance and VHF high performance, and will show you graphs and charts, it's not the case for me. I've run it through the paces comparable to other antennas In my two big Ziploc bags in its class including old Uniden antennas right after they took over Electra Bearcat back in 1983. Some of the radios included some pretty interesting rubber ducks other than the standard that we all know.
The REM antenna quoted above is the best thing going for 7-800 MHz reception. It used to be the Radio Shack RS 800 years ago which only came in BNC and it was made by GRE who also made Radio Shack scanners at that time, who are rebranded now is Whistler..
Without going into more detail that antenna is available now, I believe they still have the SDS 100 model that has the proprietary o-ring just like the standard issue antenna that maintains the sds100 water resistant classification.
Some standard SMA mounts will not work with the SDS 100 but the ramtronix SMA offerings, o-ring or not, will fit the SDS 100. As good as the ramtronics 7-800 MHz antenna is, although it works rather well on UHF, not so much on VHF High, it's terrible😉
I monitor it all except for of course VHF low band. I have CB 11 m programmed in my scanner but..
If anyone out there can find a Watson w-801, let us know.
This antenna has been excellent for me on both my HomePatrol-2 and SDS100. No filing necessary for fitting into the ring flange, either. Good coverage from 25MHz-1GHz.... And because of the double hinge, it'll store nicely with the SDS100!
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- Feb 22, 2007
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I know it very well, not so stealthy LOL.
If you're speaking about the antenna I think you are as I didn't look it up now but I think I know it well, it pretty much has to be fine tuned for whatever you're listening to. That might be the reason that I give up some sensitivity with the w-801.
That is a legendary antenna often overlooked or used by the average scanner listener. It's definitely a contender.
If you're speaking about the antenna I think you are as I didn't look it up now but I think I know it well, it pretty much has to be fine tuned for whatever you're listening to. That might be the reason that I give up some sensitivity with the w-801.
That is a legendary antenna often overlooked or used by the average scanner listener. It's definitely a contender.
Ubbe
Member
Antennas for portables are not wide banded. They perform adequate within a 10% bandwidth of where it is tuned to. If an antenne works good for 700-770MHz then it will probably do worse at 850MHz and terrible at 900MHz. It is the same principal for other frequency bands. If the systems you monitor happens to have a weak signal where your antenna are tuned to you will praise that antenna but might be a bad choice at another location where the systems with low signal strength that you monitor might be on another part of the frequency band. There's no portable antenna that works excellent on all frequency bands and over their whole bandwidth.
Much like filter settings in Unidens SDS scanners also antennas for portable scanners can be location dependent.
Upman did some antenna testing and for a several antennas, like the RS800, he did measurements that show the difference to Unidens standard antenna. The RS800 works better at all frequency bands except at 170MHz. It seems to excel at 460MHz, 710MHz and 875MHz. There's a dip at 785MHz but still 3dB better than the stock antenna.
/Ubbe
Much like filter settings in Unidens SDS scanners also antennas for portable scanners can be location dependent.
Upman did some antenna testing and for a several antennas, like the RS800, he did measurements that show the difference to Unidens standard antenna. The RS800 works better at all frequency bands except at 170MHz. It seems to excel at 460MHz, 710MHz and 875MHz. There's a dip at 785MHz but still 3dB better than the stock antenna.
Measuring Relative Antenna Receive Performance - Massively Uninformed
I have been working on a project aimed at answering the question “Which antenna is better at receiving?” While I was able to find ways to test antennas for resonance (SWR) and impedance matching, and while those tests should correlate to antenna performance, I wanted to be able to directly...
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