Bearcat UBC120XLT

pancuronium

Howdi,

I have a bearcat UBC120XLT scanner & was wondering is there a way for me to boost my signal to listen in aprox 25 - 30 miles from where i live?i'm having problems picking up anything please help!!

PauloMN

It's all in the antenna. You need a good scanner antenna up as high as possible with decent VHF/UHF feeder between it and the scanner.

Built in scanner antenna should really only be used when you are out and about, or unless you are only interested in listening to strong local signals.

This will give you some ideas (plenty of other places sell them, not just Maplin):
http://www.maplin.co.uk/family_free_delivery/Scanner%20%20Antenna.htm

The outdoor ones are best.

watty

What he ^^^^^^^ says.

You need a 1.5m to 2m pole on chimney mount and this on top:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29609&TabID=1&C=SEO&U=StaticFamilyPages&doy=search&MenuName=ScanKing%20Discone%20Antenna

If you are running cable to upstairs then RG58 will do. If running a longer cable then you need RG213 with a short RG58 patch cord to radio.

pancuronium

Sorry for the stupid questions I’m really not technically minded when it comes to this kind of thing can anyone give an educated guess as to the distance that I may be able to pick up channels by installing something like the ScanKing Discone Antenna would it allow me 25 - 30 miles or would this be pushing it?

PauloMN

Not stupid questions. An antenna like those discussed above mounted outside on the roof or as high as possible will give you vastly improved results over a built-in scanner antenna.

It's not really a case of "how far can I hear?" though. Different transmissions have different output power and antenna setups, so you could hear (for example) a powerful transmission 100 miles away but a walkie-talkie (like a PMR 446) might be difficult to hear 2 or 3 miles away.

But as a very general example, if you were able to just about hear a signal on your scanner sitting in your kitchen say, if you hooked the scanner up to a discone on your roof, you can be certain if would be much stronger and easier to hear.

I use my amateur 6/2/70cm antenna for scanning sometimes, and it allows me to hear stations much further than I could with a built-in antenna.

pancuronium

Another question if i mounted the ScanKing Discone Antenna in the attic of my house would it still improve the reception & distance that i wold recieve without one?

PauloMN

pancuronium wrote: »

Another question if i mounted the ScanKing Discone Antenna in the attic of my house would it still improve the reception & distance that i wold recieve without one?

Yes, but not by as much as if you mounted it outside. Your roof will absorb some of the signal. The other thing is that your reception would be more prone to electrical noise from the house if the antenna is indoors, however that would be more of a problem at HF (short wave) frequencies than at VHF and UHF which is where your scanner operates I assume.

If you do place it in the attic, try to mount it as high as you can and away from other objects, especially metal objects.

pancuronium

Thanks PauloMN I bought myself a ScanKing Discone Antenna & have to say i'm picking up more channels now than i was so happy out

Another quick one for you does a pre-amplifier enhance your signal & are they worth buying?

PauloMN

pancuronium wrote: »

Thanks PauloMN I bought myself a ScanKing Discone Antenna & have to say i'm picking up more channels now than i was so happy out

Another quick one for you does a pre-amplifier enhance your signal & are they worth buying?

Excellent, where did you put it, in the attic? Glad it's working out anyway. You didn't hang about!

As regards the pre-amp, I can't help you there as I've never used one. I'm dubious about how useful they would be to be honest, especially cheap scanner types. I suspect that they would not help much in a situation where the antenna is indoors i.e. too much local noise/interference to overload them.

watty

Preamp only useful if:

Long cable feed and it's at the AERIAL end, not the scanner end
AND
It has band filters or tuning. Otherwise the local DECT handset, Mobile phone tower, Local Radio, RTE TV/Radio. airport, garda or coastguard will overload it.

A cable TV trunk amp for 77 to 88 channels is the only thing I know that won't overload without a filter/tuning. They do 80MHz or 110MHz to 900MHz, some will work 45MHz to 960MHz if for TV only systems with no broadband.

watty

More about Pre-Amps and why they are really for Cable Loss, not weak Signals

http://home.iprimus.com.au/toddemslie/bf981-preamps.html