Should I Get a Better Antenna?

[Steveboos]

Hey everyone, I live in South Charlotte, NC and usually listen to CMPD South and Providence channels, NCSHP Troop H/Meck County, and Charlotte Fire.

I currently have a Larsen Tri Band 150/450/800 hooked up by a Trunk Lip Mount(Antennex L Bracket) with a coax going to my Home Patrol which is mounted on the windshield.

I usually get good signal, but the radio will get very choppy when going through certain bumpy parts of the road. Would getting another antenna with spring on it be more helpful? Most of the time it is very clear when i'm stopped at a light or not moving. Also would it be better if i sanded all contact areas from the bracket to the car? I know a better ground is always what you strive for with L Brackets and Lid Mounts, but would it get the choppy-ness to go away?

My squelch is at 3 bars, I'm not sure how else to describe it, i just go by the home patrol(i'm a noob at scanning) and Signal Attenuation is off. I ran the cable in a way where the wire does not bend any more than 90 degrees. Heck it's fairly straight the whole way even at the mount location, i ran it in the groove of the trunk.

Also doesn't CMPD pretty much just run an 800 mhz channel now and NCSHP uses VIPER, so would there be a more suited antenna for my area?

Would pictures of my setup help?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

 

[russellmaher]

Hello Steveboos:

I cannot answer all of your questions about a new antenna, but what I can tell you is my experience with my mobile antenna which is an Austin Spectra with a trunk lip mount on my car. The reception is excellent on all the bands that I monitor (low, high, air, ham, anything my BCD396T will receive) and as far as a spring at the base of it, I don't think you'll find anything more sturdy than the spring on the Spectra.

I would advise you to check this unit out and see what you think. Hope this was of some use to you. Let me know what you think of it.

Austin Antenna Spectra Multiband Mobile/Base Scanner Antenna - 64k -

Russell

 

[brian]

The Larsen tri-band is a good antenna.

If your scanned objects are all in one band (say, 800MHz), then you might find you get better results from a dedicated 800MHz antenna. Look for a 3dB gain whip. Since you have an L-bracket with an NMO base, you can pick up an 800MHz whip for little $$ and try it out with little risk. I find a very subtle but noticable difference using an 800MHz gain antenna over the Larsen on 800MHz systems.

If you note the signal strength dropping while mobile, wiggle both ends of the coax while you're stationary (the end at the antenna as well as the connector at the scanner). Perhaps you have an intermittent connection somewhere. If niot, you're probably experiencing normal "flutter" while driving. A higher gain antenna may help.

Higher gain may also cause a situation of "too much signal" into the scanner in some locations, particularly around Nextel transmission sites and paging transmitters. Using the scanner's attenuator setting can help alleviate this in those locations.

 

[Steveboos]

Thanks for the help!! I was thinking about just getting a 800 mhz antenna and trying it out. I mean it's nothing more than unscrewing my current antenna, so i might do that.