Using multiple antennas

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DHaska

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I got a BC350 scanner in my truck I use mostly for scanning the local police chatter. I had a cheap walmart cb antenna on the scanner with a bnc adapter and it worked greater for vhf low. But recently U bought a radio shack scanner antenna hoping it would work better than my $10 walmart cb antenna, but i cant seem to get the vhf low chatter on about the 150 mhz band, even when im only a couple miles down the road from the police station it still comes in bad. So I was wondering if I used a t-connector and used both antennas at the same time if that would get good reception in both high and low frequencies. I know with a cb you can use 2 antennas for vertical and horizontal transmitting and stuff but i just wanted to make sure this is safe for the scanner to be using 2 different kinds of antennas at the same time.

thanks
 

W4KRR

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I don't think using a splitter and using two antennas at one time is really going to help anything. The splitter is likely to cause signal loss and other unpridectible results. You will get better results by using an antenna that's designed to receive the band that you are interested in. Like you have already seen, a CB antenna works best on frequencies that are close to CB frequencies (26-27 MHz). The further you get away from CB frequencies, the worse the antenna will perform.

Of course, it won't hurt to experiment, so if you find something that works for you, go for it.
 

Synbios

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I got a magnetic mount antenna that is specifically made for CB and WX from radio shack. I have a SO-239 -> BNC adapter to it to connect it to my Uniden BCT8 scanner.

Would you recommend using a diplexer and getting another antenna specifically made for scanners so I can pick up outside the CB range? I would need something that has a BNC and PL-259 input and goes to BNC. Or if I use my SO-239 to BNC adapter I could use a diplexer that takes two BNC and goes to BNC, do they make those?
 

W4KRR

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Synbios said:
I got a magnetic mount antenna that is specifically made for CB and WX from radio shack. I have a SO-239 -> BNC adapter to it to connect it to my Uniden BCT8 scanner.

Would you recommend using a diplexer and getting another antenna specifically made for scanners so I can pick up outside the CB range? I would need something that has a BNC and PL-259 input and goes to BNC. Or if I use my SO-239 to BNC adapter I could use a diplexer that takes two BNC and goes to BNC, do they make those?

A CB antenna will work best on CB frequencies, or frequencies near to CB (26-27 MHz). The farther away you get from CB frequencies, the worse the antenna will work. I would get an antenna made for scanners. Most scanners have a BNC antenna connector, so your antenna needs a BNC connector also. PL-259 or SO-239? I know of no scanners that use such a connector, so you don't need an antenna with one, or else you will be forced to use an adapter.
 

bluesman905

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Synbios said:
I got a magnetic mount antenna that is specifically made for CB and WX from radio shack. I have a SO-239 -> BNC adapter to it to connect it to my Uniden BCT8 scanner.

Would you recommend using a diplexer and getting another antenna specifically made for scanners so I can pick up outside the CB range? I would need something that has a BNC and PL-259 input and goes to BNC. Or if I use my SO-239 to BNC adapter I could use a diplexer that takes two BNC and goes to BNC, do they make those?
Maybe instead of buying all these bit and pieces you might consider a multi band antenna. Just a thought.:wink:
 

Synbios

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W4KRR said:
A CB antenna will work best on CB frequencies, or frequencies near to CB (26-27 MHz). The farther away you get from CB frequencies, the worse the antenna will work. I would get an antenna made for scanners. Most scanners have a BNC antenna connector, so your antenna needs a BNC connector also. PL-259 or SO-239? I know of no scanners that use such a connector, so you don't need an antenna with one, or else you will be forced to use an adapter.

Well my scanner takes BNC but the CB antenna I have uses PL-259 so I needed an adapter to attach it to my scanner.
 
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