Talk:Scanner Antennas

Choosing the right antenna is important. But it might be even more important to use the right type of coax to connect your chosen antenna to your scanner. I'd been hearing this advice for years, but never really understood the impact of using the correct coaxial cable until I took the time to actually try different cables with one of my antennas designed for 800Mhz. I had been trying to monitor a particular local (digital) public safety frequency in the 800Mhz range for years without luck, and I had even gone to the length of getting a 7-element Yagi just for this frequency. When even the high-gain antenna didn't work, I just assumed that I was just in a bad location. Then I got up in my attic with that 800Mhz Yagi and a short length of good cable. Presto! 90% successful packet decoding. The same antenna connected to just 25 feet of what was advertised as "micro loss" RG58 good through 900Mhz... 5% successful packet decoding. Same antenna connected to 50 feet of LMR600 (see Time Microwave, manufacturer of LMR series cable), 90% successful packet decoding!

The moral of the story is: Even the best antenna is no good without the right coax.

aka-ramon posted 26 Nov 2005