| Author |
Message |
    
Allagator
| | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 4:49 pm: | 
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what is the best antenna for the uniden beartracker 800 BCT7 |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 7:31 pm: |
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ally
I have a rad-shack discone antenna the one with the 6 meter wip sticking out the top it is well made and at 30 foot pickes up EVERYTHING in the county even MURS and FRS and GMRS no problem about 60 bucks |
Allagator
| | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 8:30 pm: |
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thanks bruce ive been looking for a good antenna |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2002 - 9:03 pm: |
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o another thing if you can use a good RG-8 if your run is over 25 foot on 800 mhz if your realy that intrested in that band. if you just want general coverage a GOOD RG-58 will work fine, Now coax like rad-shack RG-58 loses 13 db ( about ) per 100 foot! a good RG-8 will lose 7-10 db it dont sound like much only 3-6 db but if your tring to hear something 6 db is all the diferance between good copy and none at all! also a mast mounted preamp can help but their not cheep. I use mine discone for my 6 and 2 meter local fm work and for my trunking scanners it does very well for a 4 foot tall antenna! |
wyatt_earp
| | Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2002 - 11:26 pm: |
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Discone antenna's suck. They have no gain. All they are good for is a wide freq. coverage. If you are wanting to monitor VFH and UHF, get you the Radio Shack small base scanner anntenna for $20. It out performs the discone. Also, check into a beam antenna. Very nice. |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 4:53 am: |
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How many 800 mhz beams does rad-shack sell? Also this would meen installing a rotor.Beams of enough gain would be very narrow a 12 db gain beam is going to be about 20 deg wide. Beams are by nature narrow band devices so unless your looking to cover a narrow range of frequencys they are useless. Again the small base antenna is too narrow and it has no gain either. Im not shure where you got your info but for a 30-1200 MHZ scanner a discone is the ONLY way to go. It would be stupid to buy a scanner and then restrict your self to 10% of what it will cover in that case go buy a old trunking HT and get it programed for what you want.... makes just as much sence.
bruce |
Tech833
| | Posted on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 12:31 pm: |
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The truth is, the discone antenna is ideal for cases where you want to be able to cover a very wide frequency spectrum with good results. If a scanner listener were to follow the recommendation of buying a VHF/UHF combo scanner antenna (as suggested above), sure it would work O.K. for a small sliver of VHF and a small sliver of UHF. However, as soon as you listen on a frequency far enough removed from the center of the VHF or UHF band where the combo antenna is tuned, the receive performance drops off radically. In this case, the discone (which is still resonant) would have MORE gain than the VHF/UHF combo antenna. How does that 'suck'?
Then, if you wanted to listen to 800 MHz., the VHF/UHF combo antenna would be deaf. The discone would have a LOT more 'gain' than the combo antenna now.
Also, for listening at 800 MHz., the best coaxial cable to use would be Heliax or some similar cable. I use 1/2 inch Heliax for my discone antenna and I hear things loud and clear that I did not when I was using 9913 (RG-8 equiv.) cable on this same antenna without changing its mounting position. At 800 MHz., even RG-8 has way too much loss to be acceptable. I can now copy with full quieting the specific repeater that I could not hear at all (not even a quiet spot in the noise) with the 9913 cable.
I also use my discone to transmit from time to time. It works every bit as good as the 1/2 wave VHF antenna on the roof of the shop. You can't tell the difference between the 1/2 wave antennas and the discone on VHF or UHF. Last time I looked, a 1/2 wave had gain over an isotropic antenna. That would then mean the discone did have some 'gain' if comparing it to a isotropic antenna (which is theoretical of course).
Simply saying an antenna 'sucks' means you have not considered all the possible uses of that antenna. Even a coat hanger antenna doesn't 'suck' since it could afterall be used to hang your coat. Compared to an Imax 2000, the coat hanger would be the preferred antenna in this case, right? |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 2:33 pm: |
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you are totaly corect 833 the reason i did not go deeply in the coax issue is cost but i know trunking systems since i work with them and losses at 800 are very high but investing in 100 dollars in coax was realy not on my mind when i went the normal coax route. I found the radio shack discone to be very good even for general vhf ham use a + for the average CB'er or HAM who want the best bang for his buck ...60 bucks a hunk of coax and your good to go .... Well some would not be happy if you hung them with a new rope one reason so many diffrent antennas are made ..... ill still take my Mosley over your Imax2000 ( LOL )
Bruce |
Wyatt_Earp
| | Posted on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 9:15 pm: |
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Actually, a discone antenna has very little gain. The only use for a discone is to be able to receive a wide range of frequencies. The little $20 Rad-Shack antenna is pre-tuned for use in VHF and UHF. This antenna has more gain than a discone. I should know. I use 2 discones and 3 of the little antenna's. I also use 2 beam antennas. The beams antennas are awesome. If you have a specific area or frequency range, you can pull those suckers right out of the spectrum. Also, the little antenna picks HF and 800MHz VERY WELL. I have no problem receiving a city that is 20 miles away that uses 800MHz. Also, when I say an antenna sucks, I know what I am saying. I haven't been in scanning for 13 years for nothing. |
Tech833
| | Posted on Friday, September 13, 2002 - 11:41 pm: |
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I apologize for questioning your knowledge of what 'sucks'. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 4:53 am: |
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Ive been in radio for 40 years I work with and on this stuff for a living and have been all these years. Now sure a beam works fine so does a 20 foot horn feed dish. But the point was the man wants a good antenna for his scanner and for 99.9% of the people out there with a scanner tring to lissen to a 120 watt trunking repeater at 15 miles its going to work. I carry my department radio ( sheriff dept) at all times we are on 800 meg and i can easly hear our system in Tampa 25 miles away with it IN my car and hit the system from there too. I understand what you are saying that antenna gain can be helpfull but reading his post i think all he wants to do is get his scanner going. My discone will hear pasco county and sarasoda county trunking systems just fine and they are more than 30 miles away now Pinellas county is flat VERY flat but still thats MORE than enough for a scanner ( 101 ) Antenna.
Just mu opinion
Bruce |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 5:37 pm: |
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Back when out PD's were all on uhf i built a coliner aray for 460 it was 8 1/2 wave dyples stacked in a 20 foot fiberglass tube. In thory it had 9 DBD gain and at the bottom of the antenna ( MAST MOUNTED AND FED WITH POWER ) i had a 2n4416 peramp tuened to 460. With this i could pick up the walt disneyworld repeater about 100 miles away. But i had only 20 mhz to play with and yes it did work on the 440 ham band but you could tell it droped off still i could hear the orlando ham repeaters. Wyatt Earp You have my intrest up im curious to look up the beam you have could you post make and model if HB how maney elm and where did you get the instructions for it
Bruce |
Wyatt_Earp
| | Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 7:03 pm: |
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Hey Bruce, the beams I use were made by a fellow friend years ago. He got out of radio stuff and gave them to me. They are similar to the "Scantenna". One is made for the VHF range and the other is for the UHF. But both do well in the other area's of the spectrum. I don't know much about building antenna's, so I wouldn't know how they were built and the exact instructions. I'm also getting curious in the antenna building area. |
bruce
| | Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2002 - 9:21 pm: |
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If you want good books there are a number out there that will kick start your knolege of antennas. The BEST books for ANYONE cb or ham are these The ARRL antenna book the Willam Orr Antenna book and the RSGB ant book NOT TO SAY THERE ARE NOT OTHERS
Now loses at 800 meg in coax is ASTONDING i figured it out 100 foot of RG 58 has 13-16 DB of loss that means 95 PERCENT of your signal goes up in smoke! THIS is why a MAST mounted preamp works wonders however finding a realy broadbanded one can be a problem 20 db of preamp gain at the antenna means you can hear things 10 TIMES as weak.On my discone because i use it for transmitt no preamp is on it yet but im working on one that will go 1 to 2000 meg with 20 db of gain @ 100 meg and 6@ 2000 meg and a 3.5 db NF. The device is a MAR-6 made by minicircuts ( brooklyn NY) The problem will be keeping the transmitter from zaping it... a syncernize TR box! At work i work on the jail system and hand helds we have 800 of them mostly ICOMS at the jail we are on 460 mhz not the trunking system which our shop does support too so i wind up carring 2 radios BECIDES my ham and cb. Next project is my 440 mhz repeater now we got our pair were ready to rool
Bruce |
applejack
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 7:53 pm: |
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jeesh! i came here for a simple entertaining read and got a bunch of gobbledy gook. i have a bc60xlt a bc560xlt and a bc350a all hooked to the tv antenna and like it fine. |
Highlander
| | Posted on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 9:11 am: |
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The Grove "Scantenna" is a very nice antenna. |
bruce
| | Posted on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 7:26 pm: |
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applejack
a GOOD discone feed with GOOD coax is about as good as it gets. My ant is at 30 foot and i can hear 800 trunking for 40 miles on a rad-shack radio there are mast mounter preamps you can buy or build i built one it did some good but not enough for me to tell anyone to run out and buy one also my discone works as a transmitt ant on 6, 2, 220 and 440 ham bands i have used it on 6, 2 and 440 it works well There are several made inc rad-shack
Bruce |
CM 3885
| | Posted on Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 10:34 pm: |
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Applejack. nothing like being blown off the face of the earth with a bunch of confusing BS right? I use a A/S droopy scanner GP and i receive 800 MHZ down to 49 MHZ find and dandy and with RG 58 coax. My next scanner GP will be the A/S Mon 64. |
bruce
| | Posted on Friday, January 24, 2003 - 7:36 am: |
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For the average scanner user the discone is a great choice!
http://www.benelec.com.au/base_station/02676.htm
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Dodgeman
| | Posted on Friday, January 24, 2003 - 8:25 am: |
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I have the one bruce shows it has been good antenna for the past 5 years got it from Radio Shack |
Bill
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 6:41 am: |
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I need help with a mobile scanner antenna I need a roof mount for my pickup a I need it for 460&860 I'm using a 800 antenna now but it doesn't do to good on 460 what do you think. Thanks. |
bruce
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 12, 2003 - 7:44 am: |
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I dont know is this will help also you can run a 2 meter 1/4 wave on 450 and 850 but it will have low gain. Here in florida i have found when i ran my department HT hooked up in the car to monitor our jail system that a 1/4 wave cut for 440 work well on our trunking systen and the jail too.
http://www.premiere-electronics.net/cgi-bin/shopper.cgi?preadd=action&key=A027MOT |
Motorhead
| | Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2003 - 4:41 pm: |
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Well, if we are giving opinions, my money is on the ChannelMaster Scantenna for best scanning antenna. I get excellent LoBand reception all the way up into UHF-T.
Like a lot of other folks, i have found that the discone variety of antenna is wonderful for its' widebandedness, but it really doesn't shine in any particular range. I have also found that to really get the most gain, you need an antenna tuned for the specific frequency range to which you listen. I know, I know, you don't want to listen to just ONE frequency range, we've been through this. However, to get the best coverage, one needs to program a scanner for each particular band/antenna. For instance, I have one scanner for VHF-Low and one for VHF-High/UHF based on how well each antenna performs. Interstingly, I found that the RadioShack 5/8 wave 2 meter amateur antenna works supah good on VHF-Low all the way up into UHF-T bands (ground plane dependent of course, with a 5 by 8 sheet of steel on the attic floor working well).
If you are interested in trying mostly 800mc listening, you should try to stay away from PL259 connectors as they have horrendous loss above 400mc, better to use the BNC or type N connectors on your coax, and as with your transceivers, use the best coax you can afford...it really does make a difference.
Sometimes I talk too much, so when you get done reading this drivel, look up www.strongsignals.net and you can get a much better picture of antennae and their uses.
Buona sera |
Stepchild
| | Posted on Friday, May 02, 2003 - 12:12 am: |
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I had a 1971 ford truck stereo antenna leaned up to the window sill that done a fine job for two yrs cause I was too cheap to spend ten bucks for one at rad shack.haha |
Barracuda
| | Posted on Thursday, June 12, 2003 - 11:25 am: |
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Here's an antenna I have used that works well.
Specs:
AOR SA7000 Full-Frequency Base/Portable Antenna
Designed for wide-frequency-coverage receivers and scanners, the SA-7000 base antenna is rigidly constructed of stainless steel and aluminum and comes with 50' of RG 58U coaxial cable terminated with a BNC connector. Engineered to provide a 50 ohm match, the SA-7000 is 71 inches tall and mounts on a mast up to 2-1/4" diameter. Complete passive system brings superior low noise and free of cross / intermodulation.
SPECIFICATIONS
Receiving Range: 30 kHz - 2GHz
Impedance: 50 ohm
Height: 72 in
Acceptable mast diameter: Up to 2-1/4"
Wind Load: Withstands in excess of 100 MPH
Supplied With: Coaxial cable 50' RG-58/U with PL-259 on antenna end and BNC connector on receiver end.
Barracuda
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Marven
New member
Username: Marven
Post Number: 3
Registered: 7-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 3:38 pm: |
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Dumb question for you. But what is the brand? AOR doesn't ring any bells. lol
Looks like a great antenna for multi use purposes. I'm going to get one.
marven |
Tech808
Moderator
Username: Tech808
Post Number: 14339
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 5:53 pm: |
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Marvin,
The Brand is: AOR and the Model is: SA7000 Full-Frequency Base/Portable Antenna as Barracuda mentioned in his post above.
More information on the AOR SA7000:
The AOR SA7000 super wide range receiving antenna covers from 30 kHz to 2 GHz. This 6 foot (1.8 m) passive antenna has two vertical elements with a built-in duplexer. The aerial is designed for areas where space is a problem or when an unobtrusive installation is essential. The SA7000 is a passive arrangement providing two whip elements: a long element for short wave up to 30 MHz and a second shorter loaded whip aerial for frequencies up to 2 GHz, the loading coils are tuned around 150 and 800 MHz to enhance performance of the VHF and UHF bands. A single coaxial lead feeds both whips in a weather proof enclosure which in turn bolts to a suitable supporting mast (not provided).
The SA7000 is easy to assemble and use, an instruction sheet is supplied with the aerial, "V" bolts and clamps are included but a small stub mast will be required for installation which should be as high as possible and in clear space. This antenna includes 50 feet of RG-58 coax lead-in with a PL-259 to plug into the antenna base and a 50 ohm BNC plug to go into the radio.
The SA7000 is a strong choice for the AOR AR8200, AR5000, AR8600, ICOM PCR100, PCR1000, Yaesu VR5000 or other wideband receiver with a single antenna input.
Hope this help's,
Lon ~ Tech808 ~ N9CEF
CEF#808 ~ CEF HAM#33 ~ CVC#002
Tech808@copperelectronics.com
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Johhn
Member
Username: Johhn
Post Number: 61
Registered: 8-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 - 9:03 am: |
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My scanner antenna is a Rad shack F.M. flat...
It has a short,medium & long .I never here anything on 30mhz around here anyway.so you only need a 18"& a-6" for 800mhz. My max is around 30 miles...
johhn 361 |
