Should I get another antenna?

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Alex1041

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I will be a new owner of a 396XT this upcoming week and have been doing a lot of reading on the site. I'm curious if a different antenna will be better than that OEM factory antenna?

I live in an area that has trunked and non-trunked systems. I will monitor the local PD/Fire on a trunked system and will also monitor CSX/Amtrak....

Any suggestions on an antenna that will cover all the bands?
 

freqs

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It could help it depends on what kind of system you are trying to pick up .800Mhz need to give a bit more info to you question
 

russellmaher

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First of all, congratulations on the 396XT.

The supplied antenna will do an adequate job, but nothing to get excited over.

At home you will want to explore all that this scanner can monitor and that would suggest a base antenna and in the car also, you will really need to mount something externally to get good reception.
The stock antenna wil not perform properly with all that metal surrounding you, so please do yourself a big favor and invest in some decent antennas.

I read somewhere (RR, I think) that the best radio is only as good as the antenna that's connected to it.

Russell
 

Alex1041

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I will be listening to 800mhz trunked systems as well as CSX in the 150mhz range.

Will an upgraded tri-band antenna do the trick as a portable unit?

Thanks :)
 

jimg

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I will be a new owner of a 396XT this upcoming week and have been doing a lot of reading on the site. I'm curious if a different antenna will be better than that OEM factory antenna?

I live in an area that has trunked and non-trunked systems. I will monitor the local PD/Fire on a trunked system and will also monitor CSX/Amtrak....

Any suggestions on an antenna that will cover all the bands?

Are you going mobile or looking for a replacement for the rubber duck that comes with the 396XT?
 

jimg

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For now a replacement for the faithful rubber duck.....

You might want to look at all the different portable antennas for sale from Scanner Master, to determine which might be best for your needs. I use the Watson W-881 and it does a good job for me, from 42 mhz to 800 mhz. Also, the GRE 800 antenna, which is the same as the Radio Shack 800 mhz rubber duckie that I have, has does a good job for me on just the 800 mhz reception.
 

fenderblue

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fenderblue

I replaced my 40 year old hygain tri-band antenna with a new antenna to get more reception and possibly 800 mhz stations. I replaced with a ST-2 antenna. Now I am some transmissions that I don't care to listen and don't think it is skip either. Usually monitor between 40.00-460.00 mhz stations. Some transmissions will break the squelch when it is turned back all the way, usually some of the 154.-155mhz transmissions and some of them it does not work. It is usually on the Bearcat bc860xlt that I just purchased used lately. Thinking about putting it on the hygain only for the bedroom.
 

Alex1041

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After much searching I ended up ordering a maldol H55...hopefully it will be an improvement over the factory antenna.

I'm having a hell of a time picking up any CSX traffic. My iPhone does better with the 5-0 scanner app..
 
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