Message posted by Joerg (Webmaster) on March 20, 2020 at 15:29:43 PST:
Since it came up in another thread, and especially for the benefit of our readers who are just getting into this hobby: Most handheld scanners, even expensive ones, come with pretty poor stock antennas. A good aftermarket antenna makes a world of difference. I use Diamond RH-77 antennas on all my scanners and handheld HAM radios. The antenna comes with BNC or SMA mount. On my truck I use a Tram 1180 dual band (2m/70cm) HAM antenna. It does very well on military air band too. For a scanner antenna I also use a 25-1300MHz vertical dipole antenna. Not sure of the manufacturer. I have had it for close to 20 years. For a base scanner antenna I highly recommend DPD Productions antennas. The MilTenna Omni (I think Dave now calls it OmniX) is the one I use by far the most. I would love to hear from others what they use. BTW, for HAM operators: I recently tried a couple of low profile dual band HAM antennas. Similar models, only about 4-5" tall, are sold for around $20. Don't waste your money. The SWR is through the roof. If fed with more than 5W it will likely damage your radio.
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