Uniden Antennas

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K9GTJ

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I hate to be harsh but they just suck! My BCD996T is a great unit but the antenna BNC connection is awful. That black plastic BNC connector doesn't give you any positive feel when it is connected.

I received my BC370CRS for my birthday today and it is exactly as bad. Come on Uniden, put a real BNC connector on your antennas!
 

garys

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You're not just figuring this out, are you? I'm not even sure why they put one in. Anyone buying a high end scanner like the 996T is not going to use that antenna.

Gary
 

DaveIN

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I try to use an antenna tuned to a specific band or bands that I am interested in. If you wanted Uniden to cut cost I'm sure they would be happy not to include one with the base or mobile models, but I'm sure many people would be unhappy that it would no longer be included.
 

pro92b

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DaveIN said:
I try to use an antenna tuned to a specific band or bands that I am interested in. If you wanted Uniden to cut cost I'm sure they would be happy not to include one with the base or mobile models, but I'm sure many people would be unhappy that it would no longer be included.

You miss the point. The collar on the Uniden base antenna is plastic and does not lock like a metal BNC bayonet collar does. That would be ok except it gets stuck on the BNC jack and takes way too much force to remove it. I've seen Uniden radios with damaged BNC jacks and broken antenna connections inside as a result. The savings for Uniden with this plastic connector can't be more than a few cents making it a poor choice on their part. Radio Shack supplied a much better base antenna with the PRO-2096. I would not recommend using the Uniden supplied base antenna at all. Note that none of my comments apply to Uniden supplied handheld antennas.
 
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K9GTJ

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garys said:
You're not just figuring this out, are you? I'm not even sure why they put one in. Anyone buying a high end scanner like the 996T is not going to use that antenna.

Gary

I use a 3rd party antenna for the 996 always. But for my new BC370CRS which is a clock radio for the bedside, I don't need a fancy outside or 3rd party antenna.

All I want it for is to monitor the 4 local school districts when they are out deciding what to do on snow days and to have a weather radio for alerting at night. (I have a handful of other things in there too.) The stock antenna is fine for that reception. However, it fits like crap.
 

DaveIN

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pro92b said:
You miss the point. The collar on the Uniden base antenna is plastic and does not lock like a metal BNC bayonet collar does. That would be ok except it gets stuck on the BNC jack and takes way too much force to remove it. I've seen Uniden radios with damaged BNC jacks and broken antenna connections inside as a result. The savings for Uniden with this plastic connector can't be more than a few cents making it a poor choice on their part. Radio Shack supplied a much better base antenna with the PRO-2096. I would not recommend using the Uniden supplied base antenna at all. Note that none of my comments apply to Uniden supplied handheld antennas.

I didn't miss the point at all. If you want a better antenna, then don't use the supplied antenna with plastic bayonet. I also remember the problem center pins in the BC245XLT BNC antennas in early production units. If you spend that much on a radio then you can get a decent antenna. Radio Shack has also cut costs on some of the base/mobile models too, mostly the Uniden OEM's.
 

DaveIN

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kokomo1 said:
I use a 3rd party antenna for the 996 always. But for my new BC370CRS which is a clock radio for the bedside, I don't need a fancy outside or 3rd party antenna.

All I want it for is to monitor the 4 local school districts when they are out deciding what to do on snow days and to have a weather radio for alerting at night. (I have a handful of other things in there too.) The stock antenna is fine for that reception. However, it fits like crap.

For my BC370CRS I use an indoor skyscan discone antenna.
http://www.strongsignals.net/access/reviews/reviews.cgi?type=display&rtype=rev&class=ant&num=001
 

pro92b

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The point is that Uniden supplies an antenna with its base/mobile units that is fairly likely to damage the radio. The same antenna is shipped with the whole product line from cheapest to most expensive. All to save a few cents. The issue with this antenna has been brought up over and over and still it is being shipped. It's a bad decision on Uniden's part and it really would be better to ship no antenna instead of the plastic BNC type. At least then the owner would not be tempted to use something that could destroy the antenna input connections.
 

DaveIN

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My point exactly, but many people who buy a base/mobile scanner expect the antenna to be included, yet when you jump up to a professional grade receiver, "most" of the time, the antenna is no longer included or is a temporary one.

I've had many Uniden products over the years, and with exception to the BC245XLT antenna center pin pulling out and sticking in the BNC of the radio, I had never seen any damage from the supplied antenna.
 

pro92b

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My old 245 never had an antenna problem while I owned it. I have had to repair two BC278CLT's because of the plastic antenna. Now I don't even take the plastic antenna out of the box when I get a new radio.
 

STiMULi

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  1. Open the box.
  2. Hook up the antenna and the power.
  3. Does the radio work?
  4. If the answer is yes put the antenna in the box and buy a real antenna. :)
 

EG

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I assume this is the same antenna that came with the bc350c i do like it for my 246t I am not as worried that the scanner will tip over when i use this cheap ant
 

DaveIN

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pro92b said:
My old 245 never had an antenna problem while I owned it. I have had to repair two BC278CLT's because of the plastic antenna. Now I don't even take the plastic antenna out of the box when I get a new radio.

It may be true that you never had an issue with your 245 antenna, but many did out of the box. You do the same thing many of use do, don't even take the antenna out of the package.

These plastic bayonet antennas are the same antennas Uniden and Uniden OEM have supplied for quite a few years now.

What did you repair on the 278, did it break the connector on the radio?
 

pro92b

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The very high force needed to get the antenna off loosened the BNC jack. It rotated enough to break the wire from jack to PC board. I actually had to make a special tool to retighten the jack.

Uniden has used these antennas for a while as you said. The complaints go back a few years too. I've seen bulk lots of these things sold on Ebay at a very low price. In this case you do get what you pay for...
 

K9GTJ

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N1508J

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Not allowed...infraction.
I too was taken back by the plastic BNC on the supplied external antenna. It makes no difference how often you use plan to use it! For the price you pay for the 996, you would expect a metal BNC...in fact, I would expect a GOLD plated one! You can bet that if plastic could conduct electricity, they would be making power cords out of plastic too!
 

wjf

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kokomo1 said:
I hate to be harsh but they just suck! My BCD996T is a great unit but the antenna BNC connection is awful. That black plastic BNC connector doesn't give you any positive feel when it is connected.

I received my BC370CRS for my birthday today and it is exactly as bad. Come on Uniden, put a real BNC connector on your antennas!

My 396 came with a decent metal BNC connector, but that was a year ago.
 

Napalm

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396 != 996.

The 396 comes with a sexy SMA to BNC adaptor.

The 996 and 15 come with a cheapo crappy telescopic whip with a crappy plastic BNC.

"I expect a gold plated BNC..."

Do you think $500 is a lot for a radio? Give me a break.
 

ButchGone

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Ho...hum

and blah blah blah...some of the things people complain about! If you want professional grade communications antennas, then expect to pay professional grade prices!
Not to start a flame thread, but it's funny to see some of the nit-picks sometimes.
Take care and happy monitoring!
BG..
ps, I'm just thankful there's stuff on the market that allows anyone to listen to trunking, and digital comms - something we could not do in the not too far off past. Thanx Uniden.
 
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