Uniden SDS100 Antenna Question

[ZELTIK]

Hello, all!
I am new to Radio Reference and relatively new to scanners in general. This is my first post and I don't know if this question has already been answered by I figured I'd take a shot. I currently own a Uniden SDS100 and would like to get better reception inside my home. I live about 15min outside of town and the nearest towers. It seems when I am in specific rooms in my home, I get better reception while in other areas in the home I get an absolute dead zone with hours of no transmissions whatsoever. I am looking for an antenna for the home, not only to get rid of the dead zones but generally improve my reception. I don't care if I have to set it up on a pole or attach it to the side of the house and run a cable inside. I would just like to be able to hear transmissions while in my office. To give you guys some insight into what I am working with, I currently have the Remtronix 820s antenna on the scanner (bought that initially hoping it would solve my issue) and the channels I am listening to that are used almost exclusively throughout my area are NXDN (Nexedge 9600) Digital Trunked signals. All in the range of 140-150's. Any insight into the matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

[n1chu]

If you haven’t any concerns on mounting an antenna to the outside of your house, thats the best answer to improving your reception. A simple discone antenna will do the trick. Just make sure you pay attention to lightning protection. There are standards that insurance companies want you to follow for your home owners insurance policy. Usually a 4-6 ft copper ground rod you drive into the earth with a wire that attaches to the antenna mount. In my case I have two stand off mounts attached to the side of the house that supports my antenna. (Make sure you use lag bolts long enough that attach to framing underneath the siding of the house to carry the weight of the antenna and metal masts-they come in 5 and 10 foot sections. Attaching the ground wire to one of these standoffs does the trick for grounding.) Mount the antenna as high as is practical, avoiding any overhead wires that feed your electrical service to the house. There’s tons of info available on the internet on how to mount an antenna safely… follow these recommendations to the letter!

 

[a727469]

Excellent advice, especially concerning grounding. I am lucky that I can put my antenna in my garage so not as much of a problem but I still have a small ground.
I have a similar issue with portables..one room is bad and requires movement of inches to get decent reception.
Also, isn’t the 820s made for 700-900? The poster mentioned reception 140-150? If so that remtronix would be no good

 

[IAmSixNine]

I had the original radio shack remtronix and it was not bad on VHF or UHF.. Going off memory but i think it was still better then than the stock antenna of the SDS100. BUT i will also say that i feel (not technical) that my old radio shack BNC remtronix antenna was better than the current production one for the SDS100 remtronix.. I purchased one of those and feel my older one with the SMA/BNC adapter works better. But thats just me.

 

[nessnet]

Excellent advice, especially concerning grounding. I am lucky that I can put my antenna in my garage so not as much of a problem but I still have a small ground.
I have a similar issue with portables..one room is bad and requires movement of inches to get decent reception.
Also, isn’t the 820s made for 700-900? The poster mentioned reception 140-150? If so that remtronix would be no good

Correct on the 700-900.
Maybe an 842S?

Or, certainly a higher (and/or outside) antenna.
One thought....
If the site you are trying to rec've is the only one, may something directional, like a yagi...?

 

[doc62]

I have the 842s for when I'm traveling out of area and need VHF coverage. Works great.

 

[ZELTIK]

Correct on the 700-900.
Maybe an 842S?

Or, certainly a higher (and/or outside) antenna.
One thought....
If the site you are trying to rec've is the only one, may something directional, like a yagi...

I'll have to look into the 842s. Yeah the remtronix is designed for much higher bands than I need, I just thought it would get better overall reception. I believe I found out that NXDN runs on VHF 137-174 or something close to that.

 

[KB2GOM]

I built and use the off-center-fed-dipole: Homebrewed Off-Center Fed Dipole - The RadioReference Wiki

The wire version is inexpensive to put together. I hung it in a corner of my shack, and it works well. Recommended.