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reaonably priced antenna
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Author:  knitnweed [ Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:27 am ]
Post subject:  reaonably priced antenna
At the moment I'm using a magnetic mount antenna on the roof of my mobile home, which is working fine, but I would like to get a little more height. Is there an antenna that isn't expensive that will get the frequencies in this area of east Peirce county?

I have an old UHF/VHF antenna on the shop, but it doesn't do well on the 800 band. It's seen too many years of weather too.

Thanks~
Author:  jrw14493 [ Sun Jan 17, 2010 10:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
I'm not sure what type of antenna your looking for. I can tell you that I own 3 of Radio Shack's http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103641 antennas and they perform well in all areas. I can't speak for the geographics in Pierce County, but those work fine here! And at $30, they're reasonable.

If you want a true discone, their http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2103160 priced at $75 I've heard works wonders too.
Author:  TMF [ Sun Jan 17, 2010 5:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Not to take away from Joeys post as the Discone is a good antenna, but here is a fairly good place to look at what is out there and then see what fills your needs.

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/scanants.html

I have seen many posts where guys are using this one specifically and seem to praise its performance,

http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ ... /2732.html

Good luck!
Author:  n7maq [ Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Also don't skimp on the coax. If it's over a 50' run you will want to use something like LMR400, or 9913. Don't buy Tandy cable at all.

Jim
Author:  knitnweed [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 4:49 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Thanks for all that information, as I'm more of a casual listener I think that Radio Shack antenna will do the job for me.

Would there be any reception problems if I mounted this antenna on the same pole as the TV antenna and ran the cable down along side the TV cable?

Thanks again~
Author:  the Outlaw [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
knitnweed wrote:
Would there be any reception problems if I mounted this antenna on the same pole as the TV antenna and ran the cable down along side the TV cable?


Shouldn't be, as both will be 'receive' only.
Author:  jrw14493 [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:56 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
I forgot to add...yes...low loss cable will make a big difference! The 400 cable is kind of expensive but it's worth it.
Author:  n7maq [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 12:32 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
jrw14493 wrote:
I forgot to add...yes...low loss cable will make a big difference! The 400 cable is kind of expensive but it's worth it.


Expect to spend from .75 cent to $1.50 a foot for LMR4000.

Jim
Author:  Jim [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:01 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Outdoor VHF-Hi/UHF Scanner Antenna
Model: 20-176 | Catalog #: 20-176
$26.99

100 feet of $1.50 a foot for LMR400.
$150.00

Getting the frequencies in this area of east Peirce county.
$ Priceless :D
Author:  rkeele1 [ Mon Jan 18, 2010 7:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Hi
I live in Shelton on Hood canal and i am using the antenna craft SC2 mounted on a 10 foot piece of pvc pipe and i can receive all the trunking from Seattle, Tacoma, and Bellevue area using my Uniden BC-996T
Author:  KE7JFF [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 12:37 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
I think HRO sells LMR400 for about 80 cents a foot. Far as I am concerned anything under 1.00 is a good investment.
Author:  knitnweed [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
The antenna is in my budget's range, but that coax is not. Guess I better stick with what I've got, it works well enough although not great.

Thanks so much for all the information.
Author:  KE7JFF [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 5:01 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
knitnweed wrote:
The antenna is in my budget's range, but that coax is not. Guess I better stick with what I've got, it works well enough although not great.

Thanks so much for all the information.


How far of a run do you want to do?
Author:  Rich [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:07 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
The antennacraft antenna comes with RG-6 which is inexpensive and has reasonably low loss. For some antenna runs I use LMR-240 which is much easier to deal with than LMR-400.
Author:  KE7JFF [ Tue Jan 19, 2010 7:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: reaonably priced antenna
Rich wrote:
The antennacraft antenna comes with RG-6 which is inexpensive and has reasonably low loss. For some antenna runs I use LMR-240 which is much easier to deal with than LMR-400.


Well, I have used RG6 for feedline before and it does work pretty well for both RX and TX applications (you get an SWR of only 1.5 in theory for TX but I could somehow get 1.3/1.4 and it worked great. It is a option.

LMR-240 is good option too; last I checked, its 25 cents less per foot than LMR-400 but I could be wrong.
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