| Author |
Message |
    
CM 3885
| | Posted on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 10:25 pm: | 
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Is it possible to use 2 scanners on one base antenna? I have a antenna specialists base scanner antenna that covers from 28 to 956 Mhz that i want to use for both of my scanners. I have a handheld that i want to hook to my base antenna but i dont want to put up another antenna outside just for that. I have an assortment of connectors and from what i see all i need is a UHF T, 2 PL 259s a short piece of RG 58 and the other connectors i already have. I jsut would like to know if it would work like i want it to.. |
Carolinagold
| | Posted on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:58 am: |
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It sounds like it should work.
I havent ever tried using 2 scanners on 1 antenna but it should work |
2ec837
| | Posted on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 5:23 am: |
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Just remember every connecter or adapter used will decrease the signal strength. |
307
| | Posted on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 12:48 pm: |
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Thats true. Each time you "add" a "52 ohm load" you decrease signal strength as well as become directional. You should really use a power divider to keep all three ports at 52 Ohms.
307 |
bruce
| | Posted on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 2:03 pm: |
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You could use a TV amp with 2 outputs if you have one even though its 75 ohms you should get some gain otherwise if you build a wide band spliter you will lose 4 db or more ( 3 db + loss in transformer ) look up a a MAR-6 neet device. |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 5:30 pm: |
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Well i dont want to build a splitter though. Went to radio shack and well, walked back out the door empty handed.
307 were can i get a power devider? |
Mr_Rf
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 7:56 pm: |
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A standard TV splitter will do the trick. No matter what you do you will lose a mininum of 3dB by combining/splitting two-into-one. 3dB or so is really not much to the average user. beware of antenna preamps if you live near any major towns, broadcast stations or cell sites...amps can overload the receiver very quickly and cause lots of unwanted interference in the long run. Try a TV splitter, it's the cheapest way to maintain signal efficiency when running two!
Mr_RF |
bruce
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - 7:57 pm: |
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cm check http://www.minicircuits.com/splitter.html
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Tech833
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 11:40 am: |
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Scanners are paralleled all the time. You do not need a power splitter or anything else, just a T connector and some cables.
Keep in mind, there will be some phase loss and some combining loss, but they will be very negligible. The only time you would ever notice any loss is if both scanners are tuned to the same frequency at the same time.
A quick sweep of the few scanners I have around the shop show that the antenna connectors are only a 50 ohm load when the receiver is tuned to the frequency I am sweeping. Otherwise, the resistance is very high. This will 'reflect' any off frequency signals back to the antenna and the other scanner. Out of phase of course. |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 4:38 pm: |
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I dont get that but oh well.
I hooked them up today and i noticed very little losses. Seems to work ok so far. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 12:44 pm: |
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I know, sometimes I need an interpreter.
Have fun! |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 12:45 pm: |
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Took the stuff i bought at rat shack back today. Think im gonna just buy another base scanner antenna and some coax and put up another antenna. Im looking at the Antenna specialists Mon 64 GP it covers between 29 and 1000 mhz just like my other A/S version... Ill have 2 antennas up on my mast but its better than having my 2 scanners feeding back into each other. |
