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