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SCANNER SETUP
While I am not a ham or electronics whiz, I have been into monitoring
for the last twenty years.
I now own Radio Shack's PRO-2004, and a Bearcat BC-210. Both of these
units are used for base use only. For mobile use I have Regency's
HX1000, HX1500, and Uniden's BC 200XLT.
Enough about the radios, here is what makes them work for me. This
applies to the handheld units and could also be used on the base units
for those of you that cannot use an outside antenna.
For the handheld units I use a Kenwood AX-2. This is a shoulder strap
with antenna base. This consists of a shoulder strap, a length of RG58
with a BNC plug on one end that interfaces with the plug on the radio. At
the other end is a BNC female connection for an antenna, this end also
has a copper strap that is covered with rubber and is used as a ground
plane for the antenna. This end is also attached to the shoulder strap.
The strap has hooks that are attached to your radio. The package has two
screws that are attached to the scanner at the top sides, the hooks are
then attached to these screws. For those of you that do not want to use
the screws and strap in this fashion you can attach strips of velcro to
the shoulder of your jacket or an old shirt and attach the antenna to
your clothes this way. If you attach the antenna base to your jacket or
shirt you will have to lengthen the RG58 by using a short piece of RG58
with BNC male & BNC female attached to either end of the RG58. By sewing
the velcro fasteners to your shirt or jacket on top of the shoulder you
can wear the scanner on your belt and get the antenna up on your shoulder
where it vastly improves the reception.
The AX-2 will accept any antenna with a BNC connecter at the base. On
fantrips I use the "rubberducky" type antenna that came with the radio.
But, to really improve reception out at trackside where you are not too
limited to antenna length I use the AEA model HR-1 antenna. This is an
end fed half-wave telescopic vhf antenna for two meter use. I live in the
Dayton, Ohio area and with an outside antenna attached to the handheld
units I can pick up three different NOAA weather stations. I have taken
all three handhelds out back and with the "rubberducky" type antennas I
can only pick up two out of the three weather stations. When I then
attach the HR-1 to the radios all three stations will come in loud and
clear. One station is in Cincinnati, Ohio, one is in Dayton, Ohio, one in
Cridersville, Ohio which is south of Lima, Ohio. I can also pick up the
station that is in Columbus, Ohio and is also on the same frequency that
Cincinnati is on. By moving either east or west by five or six feet I
will pickup one or the other.
I always compare the way a scanner will pickup the NOAA weather stations.
Since the weather station operates close to the railroad frequencies, I
figure that the scanner and antenna combination should do just as well
with the railroad frequencies.
If you don't want to go with the AX-2 setup, then I wholeheartedly
recommend the HR-1 antenna. It will collapse down to 8.5 inches in
length.
By attaching the HR-1 to the back of your base scanner with a right angle
BNC adaptor, you will notice a vast improvement over the antenna that
came with the set.
I hope that this short article will help you get the most out of your
scanner, and I welcome any and all comments.