[Pro2006] Looking for any comments / recommendations, from experience, for best Pro 2006 table top antenna.

[Bob Whiston]

At 11:20 10-05-07, Tom Cape wrote:

>I have had reasonable success in the north Atlanta area with my Pro 2006
>indoors over the last few years.I currently use a Radio Shack
>back-mounted antenna..I have experimented with several different
>antennas.
>I'm looking for comments on any indoor or out door antennas you may have
>had good results.

         A couple of the `mainstays' of my `outside' antenna `farm' over 
all the years I've been scanning have been a quality discone antenna and a 
*mag-mount* antenna like the RadioShack RS# 20-032 antenna.  By `quality' 
discone I mean one that uses *solid* elements for *all* the elements rather 
than the tubular ones like RadioShack is known to use in the `skirt' of 
their discones.  On top of that the higher the count of elements, in both 
the disc and the cone the coverage becomes wider and more even over the 
supposed range that the discone is spec'd to cover.  (One *does* have to 
remember that a discone antenna has *no* gain and *if* one wants gain then 
one either adds a *quality* pre-amp *at the base* of the discone or 
dispenses with the discone and goes with another type of antenna 
altogether. [In *my* `farm' I have one discone without a pre-amp and a 
second with a pre-amp.  The pre-amps I have used over the years have always 
been of the type that are mounted right at the base of the antenna and 
receive their power up the coax.  I then have and adjustable attenuator 
mounted right after the `power-injector' unit and *then* the signals are 
then distributed to the radios via Stridsberg Active Multicouplers.  The 
reason for the last item is that I happen to usually have around as many as 
8 - 12 radios hooked up at a time and whilst I probably could use a passive 
multicoupler, and use it's losses in place of the adjustable attenuator, I 
prefer to do my adjusting of signal levels before I do my splitting of the 
signals which allows me to occasionally `boost' a signal *if* it appears to 
help.])

         The `mag-mount' antenna comes in handy those times when one is 
after a specific signal that doesn't quite seem to be coming through off of 
the discone.  Not only can I use it on a `plate' mounted on top of a simple 
mast but I can also move it around to various other mounts around the 
house.  On top of that it doesn't have to be vertically oriented all the 
time.  I've actually had mine mounted off the side of an AC unit and gotten 
excellent results.  ('Course I probably should also mention that I don't 
just have *one* `mag-mount'.  I've got several types ranging from the 
multi-band RS one through simple VHF-Lo band ones up through 800MHz 
`cellular' band ones with all sorts of permutations in between.  I even 
have one of those `firecracker'/ `potatomasher' railroad type antennas on a 
`mag-mount'.  [You should see the looks one can get when one has one of 
those mounted on the roof of one's vehicle when out train chasing! {VB GRIN!}])

         Unfortunately these days the choices for `back of set' antennas 
has become severely limited.  Pretty much all of the really good ones have 
seemed to have disappeared and replaced with wimpy little flimsy stubby 
things that seem to be an afterthought thrown in to the packaging if they 
are even included at all.  Even the various shops and other suppliers seem 
to carry only a minimal selection *if* they carry any at all.  My best ones 
were acquired almost 20 or so years ago back in the days when there wasn't 
a push to go to higher and higher frequencies.  (One of the reason *long* 
`back of set' telescoping antennas are great is one can usually always 
*shorten* one if needs be but it is *awfully hard* to *lengthen* one if 
there isn't anything there to do so.  And the `beauty' of a telescoping 
antenna is that one can pretty much `tune' it to a particular frequency if 
one needs to.  I suspect that these days the majority of the telescoping 
antennas are being sold more for use with HTs and a lot of the people using 
them don't want to hassle with them running into things and only use them 
when it is the absolutely `last resort' and so `skimp' buy picking one for 
just one small bandwidth which usually means it's way too short for most 
anything else.)

         Next...  Let's not forget the venerable `chunk of wire' 
antenna.  I call them `chunk of wire' antennas because that is usually 
exactly what they are, a chunk of wire one happens to find laying about and 
decides to try.  While it is actually fairly easy to calculate the correct 
length for most of the usual scanner frequencies most of us, myself 
included, usually just grab whatever comes handy and throws it up and gives 
it a try.  The amazing thing is that an awful lot of them can provide some 
pretty amazing results despite what the assorted `mavens' out there try to 
say / claim!  You won't know if something will work until you try it. {GRIN!}

         Finally...  There are the `purpose built' `band specific' single 
and multi-element antennas.  They can cover the gamut from simple `cut for 
one frequency' vertical 1/4 wave, 1/2 wave, and other multiples 
`groundplanes' and `dipoles' through 3 - 12 or more element `arrays' / 
`beams'.  (*Yes* there *are* the LPDA arrays that can cover *amazingly* 
wide ranges of frequencies, too.  However, because of their coverage, they 
can get *quite* big, actually I probably should say *huge*, and take some 
special precautions and mounts to be useful.  If one wants to get a `taste' 
of what they can do just take an ordinary TV antenna and turn it 90° to 
vertical orientation and hook it up with a good `balun' / 300ohm to 75ohm 
`transformer' at the antenna end and directly off the coax at the scanner 
end. [Don't worry about the difference between 75Ohms and 50Ohms!  Your 
scanner won't so why should you? {VB GRIN!}]  Heck!  Why, while you are at 
it, why not also try it horizontally, too!?  Sometimes the results are 
quite surprising! {CHORTLE!} [Many years ago I was trying to receive 
signals *WAY North* of me and wasn't having very good results using an 
antenna I had purchased specifically for the frequency I was interested 
in.  On a `flyer' I decided to try the antenna `on the flat side' just for 
the `hallibut'.  Lo and behold!  The signals I had been trying for came 
booming in like they were next door!  I used that antenna that way for many 
years until the company I was interested in went to a different set of 
frequencies, and I'd by that time pretty much had lost interest in 
listening to them to boot.]  Since then I still sometimes try `going to the 
"flat side"' if I am having problems with a signal. {VB GRIN!} 
)  Anyway...  `Purpose built' antennas are sometimes the best way to go 
*if* you are interested in a very specific set of freqs and are yet 
something else to take a look at.

         Hopefully the preceding provides a small bit of help about what 
there is to try out there.  You may or may not find *one* antenna that will 
do what you are wanting to do but, you also may or may not end up with a 
`farm' on your roof or in your house either.  Part of the fun of this hobby 
is all the things there are to `play' with and once you've figured out what 
you receiver can do with what it came with the fun really begins.  I know 
people who only have a couple radios, one SWLing one and one Scanning one, 
and use one or two antennas for each or multiple antennas for each and then 
there are people like me who have multiple radios of both kinds who switch 
between having `simple?' antenna `farms' and `crazy' antenna `farms' as the 
`whim' hits them.  There really isn't *one* `perfect' setup out there for 
everyone and I feel *that* is one of the strengths of this hobby.  One 
still has the chance to find whatever `turns one's crank' these days, even 
with those pesky HOAs, if one looks.  Don't be afraid to experiment.



---
     Doleo ergo sum,
        Bob Whiston


     I've always been crazy but, it's kept me from going insane!