I am looking for a good 800 mhz glass mount to primarily monitor SD TRS and the RCS. Secondarily, I am not expecting good VHF lowband reception with it but if you’ve use it to monitor repeated CHP (Orange/Tan) let me know your results. I was using Radio Shack’s on-glass all-band and reception on SD TRS was choppy (Nextel?) and fair to poor results for low band. Anyway, I am researching before a new install and right now I have a PRO 2066 which I may or may not upgrade.
Thanks in advance for any opinions.
EP
Good 800mhz Glass Mount??
I use quite a few 800 glass mounts, including a Radio Shack model I purchased years ago. It's about a 4 inch rubber spike with a ground radial the same size on the inside. I don't think they still sell this one. Plus I have 2 other 800 cell range glass antennas I use. They all work excellent and there is no noticeable difference between those and my real NMO mount 800 antennas mounted to the body.
Are the bad results you're experiencing "come and go" depending on where you are? I don't know were you're located or travel, but Nextel is a good suspect for scratchy signal and even the scanner display "looses" the system and goes blank. Also, you might hear the "wrong" conversation on a talkgroup, like medics talking on a PD talkgroup if you're under the influence of Nextel.
Some common Nextel "wash out" zones are as follows:
805 and Murray Ridge
40th and ECB
805 and University
805 and Imperial
8 near the Sports Arena
Balboa and Geneese
163 and 8
Fairmount and University
805 and Plaza Blvd
8th and University Ave
8 and El Cajon Blvd in El Cajon City
8 near 70th st
These are the common spots in my travels. There are many more in different parts of the county.
I once took a Nextel site list and compared it to my "wipe out" spots and it matched 100%.
There are a few ways I was able to combat this. One was getting a Spectra radio. It doesn't wipe out. It might get a little scratchy, but it holds it together. Second, One handheld clipped to my visor with the rubber ducky antenna pretty much horizontal and being protected by the roof metal seems to help when I'm near the offending sites. I also build a 10db attenuator and put it inline with the antenna nearest the scanner antenna input and that worked pretty good. I played with the build in attenuation feature on the BC780 and it didn't do anything.
Also, one other note on your glass mount problem. Metallic window tint will result in poor performance on thru glass antennas, in case you weren't aware.
Do you have a scanner with an S meter like the 780? When you're not near a Nextel site, you should be getting almost full bars on the City TRS assuming you're in the city proper. That might help you determine if the antenna, connector and feed line are ok.
If you go to the forum My Installs and read the first post "Here's My Install" you can see the variety of 800's I have. They all perform about the same. I beleive my factory tint is not metallic because one of them is mounted on a tinted rear window and works excellent.
I have 2 Pro2066. They overall seem to have more scratch than the 780's. I thought I had problems with them, but perhaps they're just "cheapo" receivers. I now use one of them just for CHP Orange and the other at my base on TRS.
First question to answer, is this constant or sporadic?
Are the bad results you're experiencing "come and go" depending on where you are? I don't know were you're located or travel, but Nextel is a good suspect for scratchy signal and even the scanner display "looses" the system and goes blank. Also, you might hear the "wrong" conversation on a talkgroup, like medics talking on a PD talkgroup if you're under the influence of Nextel.
Some common Nextel "wash out" zones are as follows:
805 and Murray Ridge
40th and ECB
805 and University
805 and Imperial
8 near the Sports Arena
Balboa and Geneese
163 and 8
Fairmount and University
805 and Plaza Blvd
8th and University Ave
8 and El Cajon Blvd in El Cajon City
8 near 70th st
These are the common spots in my travels. There are many more in different parts of the county.
I once took a Nextel site list and compared it to my "wipe out" spots and it matched 100%.
There are a few ways I was able to combat this. One was getting a Spectra radio. It doesn't wipe out. It might get a little scratchy, but it holds it together. Second, One handheld clipped to my visor with the rubber ducky antenna pretty much horizontal and being protected by the roof metal seems to help when I'm near the offending sites. I also build a 10db attenuator and put it inline with the antenna nearest the scanner antenna input and that worked pretty good. I played with the build in attenuation feature on the BC780 and it didn't do anything.
Also, one other note on your glass mount problem. Metallic window tint will result in poor performance on thru glass antennas, in case you weren't aware.
Do you have a scanner with an S meter like the 780? When you're not near a Nextel site, you should be getting almost full bars on the City TRS assuming you're in the city proper. That might help you determine if the antenna, connector and feed line are ok.
If you go to the forum My Installs and read the first post "Here's My Install" you can see the variety of 800's I have. They all perform about the same. I beleive my factory tint is not metallic because one of them is mounted on a tinted rear window and works excellent.
I have 2 Pro2066. They overall seem to have more scratch than the 780's. I thought I had problems with them, but perhaps they're just "cheapo" receivers. I now use one of them just for CHP Orange and the other at my base on TRS.
First question to answer, is this constant or sporadic?
Last edited by w6pix on Sun Jan 02, 2005 11:10 pm, edited 4 times in total.
I forgot the CHP question. Forget it. It will suck. It will pull it in a little on good locations, but it will fail in others.
On one scanner I use for RCS, I have an A/B switch that switches between a VHF and 800 antenna. When I go out to the mountains and want to pull in CDF or BLM, I just switch it.
On one scanner I use for RCS, I have an A/B switch that switches between a VHF and 800 antenna. When I go out to the mountains and want to pull in CDF or BLM, I just switch it.
Thanks for the info Sean. Also, the site is great.
I did check your install and am hoping you can point me in the right direction on where to get a good 800 mhz on-glass ant.
I live close to 805 & MR and very familiar with wipeout zone there. I also found my 2066 cutting out a lot in the valley by In-N-Out and on 8 by hotel circle as well as in OB near Dog Beach. I had remounted the whip of the RS on-glass all band and it had about 10 excess feet of cable bound up under the dash and always wondered if those factors reduced performance. But over the course of the 4 years I had it installed; it seemed to get worse (Nextel expansion?). I will test the radio in my home and determine if I want to upgrade.
As far as getting a Spectra, can just anyone listen to SD TRS or RCS with them? I would think you’d need a programming key or something (license)? I am thinking about going with RS’s 2096 after the reviews come out or a 785D, but I may not upgrade at all and go with the 2066. I have a 250D and like the Butel interface. Do you have any opinions on the PRO96 which I assume to be very similar to b/m 2096?
My primary goal now is the getting info (brand, where to buy) on the best glass mount 800 mhz ant for listening to the 2 systems. I am going to be sacrificing CHP monitoring for the cosmetic appearance of my new vehicle, which I believe to have no metal in the factory privacy glass where I intend to place the glass mount.
Thanks for the continued advice and if anyone else cares to weigh, in feel free!
I did check your install and am hoping you can point me in the right direction on where to get a good 800 mhz on-glass ant.
I live close to 805 & MR and very familiar with wipeout zone there. I also found my 2066 cutting out a lot in the valley by In-N-Out and on 8 by hotel circle as well as in OB near Dog Beach. I had remounted the whip of the RS on-glass all band and it had about 10 excess feet of cable bound up under the dash and always wondered if those factors reduced performance. But over the course of the 4 years I had it installed; it seemed to get worse (Nextel expansion?). I will test the radio in my home and determine if I want to upgrade.
As far as getting a Spectra, can just anyone listen to SD TRS or RCS with them? I would think you’d need a programming key or something (license)? I am thinking about going with RS’s 2096 after the reviews come out or a 785D, but I may not upgrade at all and go with the 2066. I have a 250D and like the Butel interface. Do you have any opinions on the PRO96 which I assume to be very similar to b/m 2096?
My primary goal now is the getting info (brand, where to buy) on the best glass mount 800 mhz ant for listening to the 2 systems. I am going to be sacrificing CHP monitoring for the cosmetic appearance of my new vehicle, which I believe to have no metal in the factory privacy glass where I intend to place the glass mount.
Thanks for the continued advice and if anyone else cares to weigh, in feel free!
I will always recommend Bearcat scanners over Radio Shack scanners. I know the Pro95 SUCKS bigtime in the ease-of-use department. You know how many scanners I have, The Pro 2066 isn't bad, if I hit Manual 2,6 Manual, I will go to Tac 6. I found no way to go to a specific channel on the Pro95. However, with that in mind, I do not know much about the new raido shack digital scanners. They may be made by Uniden and labeled Radio Shack. In that case it will probably be ok. Anyone else care to comment?
The extra feedline will increase your signal loss, but since you're in the metro area, I don't think you will notice, I wouldn't worry about it. If you lived in the sticks, I'd do whatever I could to bring in a few extra db's of signal. I've sat at Dog Beach a lot and I hear ok on the scanners. However, at Sunset and West Point Loma it is near a Nextel site and gets bad there.
As for 800 antennas, any antenna labled cellular or 800 should work fine. The last group of them I got was picked up in a surplus store in KM. I didn't get them, a friend did.
318, you know that place in KM.. What is it called? I'm not sure if fotoguy cleaned them out or not. He bought a box of them.
I think any 800 antenna you get will be ok. However, I've had bad expierence with "all band" scanner glass mount antennas. The two that I've tried suck big time. They actually do about "ok" in the higher frequencies (400Mhz+) but really show that they suck in VHF and lo-band.
Just remember, an external antenna brings in the signal better, all signals, including Nextel. Remember my example of the scanner on my visor with a rubber ducky. It still holds the signal when the external antennas wipe out from Nextel.
The FCC and Nextel are working to resolve the interference issue right now. THey are planning to move them apart, but this could take years knowing how slowly Uncle Sam moves. Plus the other possible bidders for the spectrum that Nextel would move into are raising hell because they claim they should be able to bid for the spectrum that Nextel would be granted in the swap.
The extra feedline will increase your signal loss, but since you're in the metro area, I don't think you will notice, I wouldn't worry about it. If you lived in the sticks, I'd do whatever I could to bring in a few extra db's of signal. I've sat at Dog Beach a lot and I hear ok on the scanners. However, at Sunset and West Point Loma it is near a Nextel site and gets bad there.
As for 800 antennas, any antenna labled cellular or 800 should work fine. The last group of them I got was picked up in a surplus store in KM. I didn't get them, a friend did.
318, you know that place in KM.. What is it called? I'm not sure if fotoguy cleaned them out or not. He bought a box of them.
I think any 800 antenna you get will be ok. However, I've had bad expierence with "all band" scanner glass mount antennas. The two that I've tried suck big time. They actually do about "ok" in the higher frequencies (400Mhz+) but really show that they suck in VHF and lo-band.
Just remember, an external antenna brings in the signal better, all signals, including Nextel. Remember my example of the scanner on my visor with a rubber ducky. It still holds the signal when the external antennas wipe out from Nextel.
The FCC and Nextel are working to resolve the interference issue right now. THey are planning to move them apart, but this could take years knowing how slowly Uncle Sam moves. Plus the other possible bidders for the spectrum that Nextel would move into are raising hell because they claim they should be able to bid for the spectrum that Nextel would be granted in the swap.
Thanks again Sean. I will try the visor with the 250D in the mean time. I am thinking of 2 places in KM for the 800 glass mount. Does either Western Radio or HRO sound right?
From my knowledge the RS digital receivers are made by GRE and no longer by Uniden. I am looking to in-dash mount, and the 2096 will offer something that Uniden doesn’t; a PC port in front (thus, not having a programming cable tied up under the dash). Plus, I believe it is removable from a docking sleeve for a true base/mobile operation. It sounds good but I have no idea what the PRO96 is even like. I agree about the PRO95, which is also is a GRE product I believe, is a piece of junk.
I have a feeling the Nextel v. Public Safety thing is not going to be resolved anytime soon. A friend works for a company hired by Nextel to do financial analysis of the move and early word, its not pretty.
Any suggestions of a good installer in town? I had a stereo shop on CMB install the 2066 in my last car and they did a decent job except for not shorting the ant cable. My new rig has a slightly bigger pocket height wise but any of the 3 radios being considered should fit.
From my knowledge the RS digital receivers are made by GRE and no longer by Uniden. I am looking to in-dash mount, and the 2096 will offer something that Uniden doesn’t; a PC port in front (thus, not having a programming cable tied up under the dash). Plus, I believe it is removable from a docking sleeve for a true base/mobile operation. It sounds good but I have no idea what the PRO96 is even like. I agree about the PRO95, which is also is a GRE product I believe, is a piece of junk.
I have a feeling the Nextel v. Public Safety thing is not going to be resolved anytime soon. A friend works for a company hired by Nextel to do financial analysis of the move and early word, its not pretty.
Any suggestions of a good installer in town? I had a stereo shop on CMB install the 2066 in my last car and they did a decent job except for not shorting the ant cable. My new rig has a slightly bigger pocket height wise but any of the 3 radios being considered should fit.
installer
One shop in town does alot of work for local fire and hams. http://www.code3communications.com/index.html
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