Uhf t connector vs stridsberg mca204m

[stormtracker78]

Hi I have a quick question for you antenna experts out there I have a tram 1411 receive only discone antenna I just got the bearcat 992 P2 and I have a whistler 1065 I was going to run some ABR 218x equal to LMR 240 to a UHF t connector and then two jumpers from that with BNC connections on one end into the two scanners the antenna will be about 30 ft high give or take with about 75 ft of coax but upon doing research I found out that supposedly UHF is a brick house after about 400 or 500 MHz and signal reception drastically goes down however I have not been able to determine is that in transmission only or in receive only the stridesburg unit would be great but it's 200 bucks almost a pop so I'm trying to find a more economical way for a duplexer I do not mind sacrificing one signal bar but if it does lack in receive drasticaly through the UHF connectors how much so percentage wise will I be giving up versus getting that stridesburg also I've been considering getting some j poles for the airband and railway band but I'm not sure how the copper soldering holds out in high winds as I live in South Texas I'm thinking maybe I can put epoxy around the soldered connections but if anyone has any j poles and experience with that please let me know thank you all so much for your time

 

[ka3aaa]

why do you need a duplexer for two scanners if your only planning on receiving. Aparently you know nothing about radio and you only need a duplexer if you are transmitting and receiving at the same time on the same antenna.

 

[mmckenna]

Using a T connector will result in loosing 50% of your signal to each radio. Not a big deal if you have a strong signal to work with.

If you are listening to weak signals or stuff farther away, you may want a splitter that has an amplifier in it to make up for the losses when you split the signal. Some will even boost your signal a bit.

 

[stormtracker78]

Using a T connector will result in loosing 50% of your signal to each radio. Not a big deal if you have a strong signal to work with.

If you are listening to weak signals or stuff farther away, you may want a splitter that has an amplifier in it to make up for the losses when you split the signal. Some will even boost your signal a bit.

Ty for you're kind reply is there any that you could recommend so maybe the stridesburg would be worth the $200

 

[mmckenna]

Ty for you're kind reply is there any that you could recommend so maybe the stridesburg would be worth the $200

Depends on what frequencies you use. Some use TV antenna amplified splitters. They'll usually cover 50MHz to 900MHz+ and are relatively inexpensive. But you need to consider if you are in a high RF noise environment, if you are, you may need to add some filtering.

 

[stormtracker78]

Depends on what frequencies you use. Some use TV antenna amplified splitters. They'll usually cover 50MHz to 900MHz+ and are relatively inexpensive. But you need to consider if you are in a high RF noise environment, if you are, you may need to add some filtering.

Well I used to do this before when I was younger and I used the catv splitters that were like from 5 MHz to I think 1200 something like that it's been a while but they are 75 ohms and I used the RG6 quad shield cable and the antenna worked pretty good I admit but it was like 60 ft high on my dad's old CB antenna mast with almost 100 ft of cable and I was using the old radio shack antenna so the coax actually helped as counterpoise I think and where I'm at now the antennas not going to be that high RF environment's not too bad it's on the outskirts of the city but it's still within the city limits power lines etc the discone antenna is a broadband from 25 to 1300 MHz I believe receive only and I know that stridesburg will work really well matching it with 50 ohm cable etc Im just trying to find an economical way to split the signal to two receivers without much signal loss I have a preamplifier that I can use for boosting some of the signals which I usually use between 420 and 480 do you think If i used an n connector t with n connectors to BNC that that would help significantly or still the same thing about 50% loss?

 

[mmckenna]

Do you think If i used an n connector t with n connectors to BNC that that would help significantly or still the same thing about 50% loss?

When you take a signal off the air via your antenna, you'll have some signal loss in the cable. No escaping that.

You'll take what signal is left coming down the cable to the splitter. That will take half the signal and send it to one radio, and the other half to the other radio. Doesn't matter what kind of connectors you use, 50%+ loss is a given when using an un-amplified splitter.

The 50Ω thing doesn't matter that much with scanners. The discone is not a perfect 50Ω antenna across it's entire bandwidth, and your scanners are not a perfect 50Ω across their bandwidth.
If you have 50Ω coaxial cable, then stick with it.

If you can afford the Strideberg, then go with that.
If you have a preamplifier already, and you can connect it to your antenna, put that in between the antenna and the splitter. That'll boost what signal is coming from the antenna and down the coaxial cable. If it's running more than 3dB of gain, then it'll cancel out the losses in the splitter.

 

[stormtracker78]

When you take a signal off the air via your antenna, you'll have some signal loss in the cable. No escaping that.

You'll take what signal is left coming down the cable to the splitter. That will take half the signal and send it to one radio, and the other half to the other radio. Doesn't matter what kind of connectors you use, 50%+ loss is a given when using an un-amplified splitter.

The 50Ω thing doesn't matter that much with scanners. The discone is not a perfect 50Ω antenna across it's entire bandwidth, and your scanners are not a perfect 50Ω across their bandwidth.
If you have 50Ω coaxial cable, then stick with it.

If you can afford the Strideberg, then go with that.
If you have a preamplifier already, and you can connect it to your antenna, put that in between the antenna and the splitter. That'll boost what signal is coming from the antenna and down the coaxial cable. If it's running more than 3dB of gain, then it'll cancel out the losses in the splitter.

Awesome ty 👍 it's people like you that help propagate and expand this hobby I thank you for it! Not like other know-it-alls who like to come down on people who are genuinly trying to learn you know the antenna is not that expensive I think it's like 40 to $45 maybe It might be beneficial if I just put one up for each scanner it's just my wife's already lol let me know about my 117 end fed that I have hooked up to my Alinco dxr8t and icom r75 in our backyard says no more antennas!!! Here are some pics of my setup and I should be taking the technician class here pretty soon

 

[mmckenna]

2 separate antennas can be a good solution.

 

[iMONITOR]

Stridsberg makes some passive (no preamp) multicouplers that are about half the price of the amplified ones. I'm using a MC202 two port coupler for my 700-850 MHz radios, it works great!

 

[Ubbe]

Calibrated S meters on receivers have a 6dB change for each S value. The signal bars on most scanners seems to be about the same. A T-connector to split from one coax to two scanners will attenuate 3dB, that's half a signal bar, if both scanners have the same impedance.

Depending of what frequency band one scanner are in it will either have a lower or higher impedance at frequencies outside of that frequency band.

If your 996 scanner are in the 800MHz band it will have a 500 ohm impedance at the VHF airband for the 1065 and the 3dB loss will be less than 1dB at that air band.

But if your 996 are monitoring VHF air it will have a 20 ohm impedance at 800MHz and if your 1065 are monitoring 800MHz it will have a 6dB loss of the signal.

Depending of what frequency bands the two scanners are currently in it will change how much impact it it will have to the others scanners signal strenght.

If using a CATV splitter it will isolate the two scanners impedance almost completly but will have a continous 3dB loss at all frequency bands.

So in some cases a simple T-connector works best and at other sitautions a CATV splitter would be the best choise.

If adding a preamplifier a CATV splitter are of course the best solution. Make sure that the total signal amplification are not too much for a scanner. From the amplifier to the scanner it shouldn't be more gain than 3dB-6dB. There are CATV splitters that have high loss like 10-15dB to each port that could be used with a 15dB amplifer or add a seperate attenuator, preferable an adjustable one, and use standard CATV splitters.

/Ubbe

 

[stormtracker78]

Wow ubbe ty! Sounds like the catv splitter is the way to go economicaly because of the constant decibal isolation and you hit it dead on and how I intend to use the scanners generally police on one and on the other back and forth from the airband to rail band and maybe military air

 

[nycrich]

I have the amplified Stridsberg with 8 output for the last 15 years. I run 7 scanners and an Airspy SDR with no signal loss.
The amplified Stridsberg is designed so that the incoming signal will not get attenuated on any of the 8 outputs. It is designed for 50 ohms impedance which is not critical since you are not transmitting.
However it covers the entire 30-1300 Mhz bandwidth. TV/Cable splitters does not run up to 1300 Mhz.
Stridsberg is a great company that makes these products in the USA. Customer service is A+. Most likely if you call with a question you will speak to the owner.
After 13 years of use, I got my Stridsberg hit by lightening surge. Called the company, they offer a flat repair price of $30 and expedited shipping/repair from Louisiana to FL in 3 days.
I tried using an Amplified Cable Splitter. Got harmonics, FM interference, and after 900 Mhz the band pass filter in the CATV units cut off the signals above 900 Mhz.

 

[Ubbe]

CATV splitters has to work up to at least 2100MHz as that are the frequencies the sat LNB sends out and the ones I use work even down to the shortwave bands. I've had a 1-4 Stridsberg for 15-20 years are where never impressed from its performance. Even with the crappy $20 TV and satdish amplifers I used at that time did the same or a better job. I used the Stridsberg at different locations, both weak signal and up to super strong signal and the noise figure are too bad for weak signals and it can't handle strong signal enviroments.

I once manage to briefly push the PTT button while lifting a 2-way radio that where connected to the Stridsberg and it blow the transistor in it. I didn't need to send it back to US as Stridsberg sent me a new transistor free of charge. Their customer support are excellent, as they can afford it, but their products doesn't reflect their sales value. You can do the same or better using components at a 1/10 of their price. The only real positive side of Stridsberg combiner are that it is a neat plug and play box that anyone can install and use. When you put together devices of your own you have to consider the total system gain as it needs to be zero or just a few dB to not overload a scanner, that will create intermod and harmonics.

/Ubbe

 

[stormtracker78]

Wow ty both what components would you recommend ubbe if I wanted to try to go the economical route also what coax I was looking at ABR 218 XTC

 

[Ubbe]

also what coax I was looking at ABR 218 XTC

I guess you could use that as it has 6dB attenuation at 450MHz and 100ft but there's no specification for higher frequencies so probably useless at 700MHz and above,

A RG6 are probably a lot cheaper and have 4dB attenuation and are also good for higher frequencies up to 2000MHz.

Some suggestions for your own active combiner: Parts list

/Ubbe

 

[JimD56]

For receiving only the Electrolines work great for me. I have an 8 port (+7db) and a 2 port (+11db) in 2 different locations AND I just added a Single port at +15db pumping into the 8 port. Works great. I have a VHF/UHF Discone and a Yagi 700-900mhz into a Comet duplexer to a 20-foot RG-6 drop into the Electroline.

 

[stormtracker78]

I guess you could use that as it has 6dB attenuation at 450MHz and 100ft but there's no specification for higher frequencies so probably useless at 700MHz and above,

A RG6 are probably a lot cheaper and have 4dB attenuation and are also good for higher frequencies up to 2000MHz.

Some suggestions for your own active combiner: Parts list

/Ubbe

Ty! My antenna is a tram1410 hi and Cox link should be under 50 ft maybe 75 quick question on the pigtail splices I was going to get a PL 259 cable obviously to plug into the antenna and then on the other end the BNC connection to the splitter should I get a PL 259to BNC adapter hooked on the antenna and then just get a cable that has BNC male to BNC male? Or pl259 to BNC male is okay on the coax?

 

[mancow]

Awesome ty 👍 it's people like you that help propagate and expand this hobby I thank you for it! Not like other know-it-alls who like to come down on people who are genuinly trying to learn you know the antenna is not that expensive I think it's like 40 to $45 maybe It might be beneficial if I just put one up for each scanner it's just my wife's already lol let me know about my 117 end fed that I have hooked up to my Alinco dxr8t and icom r75 in our backyard says no more antennas!!! Here are some pics of my setup and I should be taking the technician class here pretty soon

mmckenna is probably one of the most knowledgeable and helpful people here.

 

[mmckenna]

Ty! My antenna is a tram1410 hi and Cox link should be under 50 ft maybe 75 quick question on the pigtail splices I was going to get a PL 259 cable obviously to plug into the antenna and then on the other end the BNC connection to the splitter should I get a PL 259to BNC adapter hooked on the antenna and then just get a cable that has BNC male to BNC male? Or pl259 to BNC male is okay on the coax?

Always avoid adapters when ever possible.

You can get PL-259 connectors that will work with RG-59 and RG-6. Use those.
On the radio end, you can get BNC connectors for RG-59 and RG-6. Use those also.
Adapters are often a weak point and will eventually give you a headache/hair loss. They also add a bit of additional signal loss that you don't need.