Copy that. Good to know!
Which antenna would be best for my listening preferences? (Uniden-BCD43HP)
- Thread starter txemt88
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I was under the impression that antenna really only functioned in the 800mHz area, but I guess not! Obviously I knew it wouldn’t go deaf for marine VHF and that type of stuff, but I just thought it wouldn’t be very good at that.
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Like I said you will enjoy it. Yes when you're not in the open air and are listening at home in a structure it will be good to be able to fine-tune. You can also move the scanner around sometimes a few inches one way or the other can make a difference as I'm sure you know.
Yessir! It’s crazy how much difference a few inches (or even fractions of an inch can make sometimes! I listen to shortwave radio at night and this couldn’t be more true.
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Yes two of the remtronix antennas are meant for 7-800MHz, pretty decent on UHF and terrible on the VHF High... the one I suggested was the 842s which is a tri-band.
I’ll probably try that one next
I use the 842 antenna much of the time on my SDS100, since I have such a wide mix of systems & frequencies here in the DFW area.
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I think you'll like what you're getting. One thing with the 842s on some of the older Uniden radios you have a little gap where the rubber meets the radio. It is flush up against the radio on the sds100 but if you had a small gap on another radio you can easily get those little black rubber washers at Home Depot and slip them on the mount of the antenna.
Yep I'm a big swl guy also... I forgot to mention that I also have my clubs 2 m repeater on my sds100 and I have Echo link on my phone which my club subscribes to so if I hear a potential qso I just pull out my phone LOL.
So keep us posted, hopefully the antenna will come before Thanksgiving and you can report back and let us know how you like it.
Yup, I’ll be sure to let y’all know! We have Prime so it’s supposed to be here Monday.
Btw, I am pretty new to scanners (and by that I mean I used to be into them about 10 years or more ago when it was TOTALLY different than now) and I never thought about trying to pick up choppers like the PD and weather and all that. Right now I listen to the county, rail and air band. Are there any other “Less obvious” things I could try to scan?
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Curiously in season I like to pick up the New Jersey state Forest Fighters service. Jersey has a lot of forest in the central and southern part of the state and a large area called the Pinelands. I like to listen to the towers give weather reports as they search for streams of smoke. I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania right on the border of New Jersey which is the Delaware River so I listen to New Jersey where I worked in Trenton as much as I listen to Pennsylvania. Another thing I like to do is listen to the military fighter jets that patrol up and down the East Coast, especially in the area of the state of Delaware on my sds200.
The old Radio Shack Sputnik tri-band ground plane is my antenna of preference. Been using them since the late sixties when they were dual band. Picked up everyone I could find when RatShack went out of business.
If you have experience in monitoring, you'll pick it up fast.
The old Radio Shack Sputnik tri-band ground plane is my antenna of preference. Been using them since the late sixties when they were dual band. Picked up everyone I could find when RatShack went out of business.
If you have experience in monitoring, you'll pick it up fast.
Curiously in season I like to pick up the New Jersey state Forest Fighters service. Jersey has a lot of forest in the central and southern part of the state and a large area called the Pinelands. I like to listen to the towers give weather reports as they search for streams of smoke. I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania right on the border of New Jersey which is the Delaware River so I listen to New Jersey where I worked in Trenton as much as I listen to Pennsylvania. Another thing I like to do is listen to the military fighter jets that patrol up and down the East Coast, especially in the area of the state of Delaware on my sds200.
The old Radio Shack Sputnik tri-band ground plane is my antenna of preference. Been using them since the late sixties when they were dual band. Picked up everyone I could find when RatShack went out of business.
If you have experience in monitoring, you'll pick it up fast.
Oh ok,cool. Yeah I didn’t think about maybe trying the Marine VHF bands. I’m located in Central TX so we’re not coastal by any means, but the Brazos River runs right through town, and we have 2-3 lakes close by. I doubt I’ll hear anything like shipping vessels or river cruises, but might grab some boat-boat communication, or radio traffic at the marinas. Maybe even catch the Game Wardens in their boats doing life jacket checks and all that.
I’m not sure if you have/had a Uniden x36HP or have used Sentinel software, but there are a lot of cool things I can program from there, that I think are probably pointless. When I go to my county, there are statewide, nationwide and county frequency lists. The nationwide includes some cool stuff like Federal (Secret Service, though I doubt I’d ever hear them on there), military (Coast Guard freq mainly), rail (which is good to fall asleep to IMO, like airband) and some others. I’m not sure what I could actually get to come in or not. I did program the Game Warden channels for my area, DPS and TXDoT for my region, but these all seem pretty dead.
txemt88, you & I both are in parts of North Texas. As such, we don't have much in the way of "true" forests. But we do get quite a few wildland fires (grass, brush, and trees, even though the trees are not a forest in the normal sense).Curiously in season I like to pick up the New Jersey state Forest Fighters service. Jersey has a lot of forest in the central and southern part of the state and a large area called the Pinelands. I like to listen to the towers give weather reports as they search for streams of smoke. I live in Southeastern Pennsylvania right on the border of New Jersey which is the Delaware River so I listen to New Jersey where I worked in Trenton as much as I listen to Pennsylvania. Another thing I like to do is listen to the military fighter jets that patrol up and down the East Coast, especially in the area of the state of Delaware on my sds200.
The old Radio Shack Sputnik tri-band ground plane is my antenna of preference. Been using them since the late sixties when they were dual band. Picked up everyone I could find when RatShack went out of business.
If you have experience in monitoring, you'll pick it up fast.
Consider listening to what's now called the "Texas A and M Forest Service" (formerly known as just the Texas Forest Service).
Texas A and M Forest Service (Texas) Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference
Scanner Frequencies and Radio Frequency Reference for Texas A and M Forest Service (Texas)
www.radioreference.com
Here's their webpage: Texas A&M Forest Service Home Page
Active incidents are on this page:
We don't have anything active near either of us at the time. But if you're close enough to a significant fire, it can be quite interesting. You might hear both ground units as well as aircraft making water drops. Back in 2011, when we had large fires in many parts of the state, I listened quite a bit to the fires around the Palo Pinto area. The largest fire was created after about a half dozen smaller fires merged into one huge one. One of the spokes of that started on property next to property owned by some of my friends.
You might hear something on Secret Service when former President George W. Bush is visiting his place in Crawford, but most of the federal law enforcement agencies are encrypted. Not sure what frequency Secret Service might use in your area, but see the bottom of the Federal Agency-Dallas page for what is used around his residence here in Dallas.
You may hear some traffic from the Brazos River Authority. For military, don't overlook Fort Hood in Bell County.
Both Texas DPS and the Game Wardens are more often heard on the systems of the counties they are working in, though I do have the TxDPS statewide channel plan in my Favorites list just in case.
TxDOT is dead most of the time here in the DFW area, though I did get some activity from road crews when we had our winter storm back in February.
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txemt88... now you are getting hooked up LOL. Since we're talking about portable radio antennas you should consider a rooftop if you are able to do it and it will open up doors for you you didn't realize were there, it will make all the difference on marine radio and Aviation.
Yes I own several 436 and 536 radios but they are retired now. Sentinel is also used to program the SDS radios along with other options available. It's the only way to do it!
Yes I own several 436 and 536 radios but they are retired now. Sentinel is also used to program the SDS radios along with other options available. It's the only way to do it!
I’ve been considering a rooftop antenna for a whole minute, but just haven’t had the time and/or funds, or now I have the funds but no time. Lol! I’m almost there though!
I’m a licensed GMRS operator and I’m hopefully gonna sit for my ham ticket soon, so I’ve been looking into all this and setting up my base station. Now that I think about it, I probably could use the same antenna for scanning and ham/GMRS huh? As long as it covered all the frequencies and bands I’d need? Just couldn’t use the scanner and the transceiver at the same time… hmm
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As far as using one antenna for both there are a lot of details to be considered especially if you were to be transmitting. This thread is about an upgrade antenna for your scanner so when you're ready there are plenty of options. You might want to look over other threads and you'll find a lot of your questions are answered. You can also use your favorite search engine for any topic and it'll take you right to the threads on radio reference that answer your question.
You are embarking on a hobby that requires spending money and time to do it right. Especially if you get your ticket, then it actually becomes a money pit if you let it.
Yeah, that was just a late night/early morning musing there. Woke up and read that I wrote that…one antenna for all, even GMRS and ham + scanning? That would be nuts and not the best idea! It’s a good thing I don’t act on these thoughts in the middle of the night. LOL
I know what you mean though, friend. It’s a bottomless pit to just keep throwing your money in, and I’ve had to be very careful about what I buy and don’t buy and when, because if I didn’t have my senses about me, I’d have an ICOM 7300 (or something better) and a 400’ tower, probably with my own repeaters (ham and GMRS) and a couple antennas way up in the air.
But I digress! Point is, you’re completely correct about the money pit. That’s why for right now all I have tied into all that is an AnyTone868 and Baofeng UV-5R handheld, a couple of different whip antennas, a Nagoya NA-771 mag mount for the HTs, and Uniden 980 CB with a Wilson Lil Wil antenna for my truck.
I’m falling off topic there. Anyways yeah, I’d love an outdoors antenna for my scanner and it would be awesome to get in the range of 60+ miles or even 100, as I’m about that much equidistant between Dallas and Austin. I wish I could find a Radio Shack “Sputnik” like you have! Instead I guess I’m probably looking at something like a Tram 1410 which is probably the most similar one.
If you ever see a 20-176 for sale or decide to part with yours, let me know!!!
I know what you mean though, friend. It’s a bottomless pit to just keep throwing your money in, and I’ve had to be very careful about what I buy and don’t buy and when, because if I didn’t have my senses about me, I’d have an ICOM 7300 (or something better) and a 400’ tower, probably with my own repeaters (ham and GMRS) and a couple antennas way up in the air.
But I digress! Point is, you’re completely correct about the money pit. That’s why for right now all I have tied into all that is an AnyTone868 and Baofeng UV-5R handheld, a couple of different whip antennas, a Nagoya NA-771 mag mount for the HTs, and Uniden 980 CB with a Wilson Lil Wil antenna for my truck.
I’m falling off topic there. Anyways yeah, I’d love an outdoors antenna for my scanner and it would be awesome to get in the range of 60+ miles or even 100, as I’m about that much equidistant between Dallas and Austin. I wish I could find a Radio Shack “Sputnik” like you have! Instead I guess I’m probably looking at something like a Tram 1410 which is probably the most similar one.
If you ever see a 20-176 for sale or decide to part with yours, let me know!!!
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Yep, unfortunately, that great little antenna, even though I assemble them with Loctite and waterproof lmr400 they tend to blow away in the kind of weather we get in our area. Well I'm running out the door, look forward to hearing how your new portable antenna works, you're going to like it.
I’ll let ya know for sure. And I’ll also likely be coming to you for outdoor antenna recommendations soon.
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Yep, if you want, check out this forum on scanner receiving antennas and you will find multiple multiple threads on recommendations for antennas. Just use your favorite search engine and ask for a good recommendation for a rooftop scanner antenna and it'll bring you to many RadioReference threads LOL. I look forward to your report on your new antenna.
I’d be happy to give a report but (admittedly) I don’t have an SWR meter so I can’t give technical info on how well it works. Do you recommend a good, cheap/budget-friendly one? Of course I’ll still give a subjective report either way!
EDIT: Forgetfulness
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