Sheilas new MagMount scanner antenna

[Stealth Stalker]

sh!+! Well, it will work for my CB I guess. It was a damn good price too.

Yeah, it would work fine with a CB. But antennae are very definitely band specific, and need to be designed for a specific band range. The CB band range is not even in the same neighbourhood as public safety in south Texas, so your range is going to be extremely limited in those bands.

I'll lurk around for a scanner specific antenna then.

Are you looking for high performance, or for style and stealth? I have evaluated a LOT of scanner antennae and can make some recommendations that would suit your needs best.

[cell21633]

what would you recommend for stealth?

[DeadReb245]

I'ts a Radio Shack 391/2" fiberglass whip. 29.965 to 27.450Hz tuning range

Surely you mean 26.965 and not 29.965, but regardless this is worthless to you when it comes to scanning and quite honestly probably would not impress even on the frequencies it is meant for. Stealth Stalker knows what he is talking about.

[Ovencleaner]

Uhh...

People are actually stupid enough to steal a $40 CB radio?

WTF is the world comming to...

I think people who steal should have their hands chopped off like they do in China.....

[erickonphoenix]

Yeah, it would work fine with a CB. But antennae are very definitely band specific, and need to be designed for a specific band range. The CB band range is not even in the same neighbourhood as public safety in south Texas, so your range is going to be extremely limited in those bands.


Are you looking for high performance, or for style and stealth? I have evaluated a LOT of scanner antennae and can make some recommendations that would suit your needs best.

I've got my fixed antenna reinstalled on the scanner now, but I hate it. It sticks way up over the dash and into the windshield. I hate stuff on my dashboard or interfering with my line of sight.

Do you have any specific recommendations? I was going to look over lunch today but got sidetracked by another project.

[Stealth Stalker]

what would you recommend for stealth?

It's going to depend on what bands (frequencies) are your priority. In the Houston area, where everything is pretty much 460 and 860mhz (looks like Chicago/Cook County is in the same range), your best bet for a combination of stealth and performance is a dedicated 800mhz antenna, that looks just like the old cellphone antenna. It's only 11 to 13 inches long. You can get glass mount and avoid drilling a hole, and get surprisingly good performance. Or you can drill a hole (or use an existing hole) and mount it to metal and get superb performance. It will mag mount too, if you prefer. Those antennae are all over eBay for ten to fifty bucks.



One of the best scanner antennae out there, the same that Alex Roy uses, is the Maxrad BMAXSCAN1000, which I've picked up on eBay for as little as $15 bucks. There's one on eBay now for $29.95, and that's about average. It's 19 inches long and covers all bands well. You can hole mount it or mag mount it, your preference. Not quite as unassuming looking as the above antenna, but still quite compact and performs great. Arguably the best all round scanner antenna on the market.



Of course, for pure stealth concerns, it's hard to beat simply using a coupler that plugs your scanner into your stock AM/FM radio antenna. Certainly not ideal, performance wise, but good enough in an urban environment, and is definitely the stealthiest of all. They run about twelve to twenty dollars, max.

[Lucky225]

Stealth -- On the 2nd antenna what type of connector comes with it? Standard BNC? Be nice to have one of those for my Pro-97.

[Stealth Stalker]

Stealth -- On the 2nd antenna what type of connector comes with it? Standard BNC? Be nice to have one of those for my Pro-97.

The antenna itself mounts with an NMO mount to the vehicle. Whatever kind of connector you put on the end of your coax to attach to your radio is up to you. Typically, a lot of antennae do not come with the vehicle mount or the coax, so you just get what you want, whether it be a hole mount, a lip mount, a mag mount, or whatever. Unlike CB antennae, professional grade scanner antennae are not plug-n-play deals. You have to buy the antenna and the mount and the coax and the connector, choosing the connector that is suitable for your particular radio. You may have to search around eBay to find a coax and mount with a BNC already on it, because it isn't that common. The easiest way is to just get the coax and mount with whatever connector is on it, then buy a BNC adapter for it at Radio Shack for five bucks.

One more entry worth considering for a combination of stealth and performance is this:

http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/1190.html



Thirteen inches long. Tiny but STRONG little ceramic magnet at the base. Performs surprisingly well on UHF and 800. The drawbacks are broadbandedness, which decreases performance a bit from the previously mentioned antennae, and very thin coax cable, which also diminishes performance a little. The good news is, that skinny coax makes it easier to mount unnoticeably, as opposed to that big, fat coax connected to most mag mounts. The coax cable is only around nine feet long though, as this thing is made for throwing temporarily up on your roof, without regards to how it looks with the cable running in your window. So, if you mount it on your trunk, you'll end up having to get a few feet of coax extension to get it to your scanner up front. Still, it's cheap, stealthy, and good bang for the buck in an urban/suburban environment.

[Lucky225]

yea, I was afraid you'd say that :/

I'm just lazy =)

[bradthemad]

One of the best scanner antennae out there, the same that Alex Roy uses, is the Maxrad BMAXSCAN1000

Alex uses the Antenex ABSCANC, which is a tri-band 150/450/800MHz. Is this possibly the same antenna re-branded as a Maxrad? They look awfully similar. The Antenex costs about $25, so getting it for $15 would be quite the steal.

144A scanner antenna