I have a Pro-97 that I just bought and I fell in love with its receiver. It's much more sensitive than my BC246T and so I'm discovering a lot of stuff to listen to that I couldn't hear before. I've wanted to invest in a UHF beam antenna for several reasons, but before I spend a good deal of money on one, I thought I'd ask the antenna experts if this is really such a wise idea. Here's my thoughts, so please let me know what you think.
I am not a casual scanner listener. I use my radio much more for identifying unknown users than listening to already identified users. I do a lot of searching in the UHF business band (450-470 MHz). I also love the Signal Stalker II feature on my Pro-97, which works very well with even just the rubber handheld antenna. But I want to get more out of my radio. I currently live in the Oklahoma City metro area, so there is the potential for the usual metro interference (pagers, etc). It has not been a problem as of yet.
I want to get a beam so I can:
1) Point it at specific businesses in a mobile application
2) Point it at specific (rural) towns to target their communications
3) Point it towards downtown to improve reception
Regarding #1, would it be practical to use a yagi in a vehicle at a range of 25-100 yards from a building (ex. parking lot)? I plan to make heavy use of Signal Stalker II for #1 (not #2 or #3). Would there be a reason that it would not work as I expect?
The big question for me as well is what kind of results can I expect? I'm looking at the Antenex YS45012 yagi beam (see also here) that has 11 dBd gain. Using such an antenna, what kind of increase in range could I expect both at ground level (in a vehicle) or roof height (2nd floor)? I've never used a yagi so I don't know if I'm expecting too much from it. And $100+ is pretty steep on a college student's budget for something that really do what I want it to.
I am not a casual scanner listener. I use my radio much more for identifying unknown users than listening to already identified users. I do a lot of searching in the UHF business band (450-470 MHz). I also love the Signal Stalker II feature on my Pro-97, which works very well with even just the rubber handheld antenna. But I want to get more out of my radio. I currently live in the Oklahoma City metro area, so there is the potential for the usual metro interference (pagers, etc). It has not been a problem as of yet.
I want to get a beam so I can:
1) Point it at specific businesses in a mobile application
2) Point it at specific (rural) towns to target their communications
3) Point it towards downtown to improve reception
Regarding #1, would it be practical to use a yagi in a vehicle at a range of 25-100 yards from a building (ex. parking lot)? I plan to make heavy use of Signal Stalker II for #1 (not #2 or #3). Would there be a reason that it would not work as I expect?
The big question for me as well is what kind of results can I expect? I'm looking at the Antenex YS45012 yagi beam (see also here) that has 11 dBd gain. Using such an antenna, what kind of increase in range could I expect both at ground level (in a vehicle) or roof height (2nd floor)? I've never used a yagi so I don't know if I'm expecting too much from it. And $100+ is pretty steep on a college student's budget for something that really do what I want it to.
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