On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 14:30:00 -0800, Limited Viability
said in rec.radio.scanner:

Just use a 1/4 wave VHF whip (unity gain on VHF, 1/2 wave gain on
UHF)

Minor point - 1/4 wavelength at 150 MHz is 3/4 wavelength at 450 MHz.

Discones are very low gain and wide band. They also bring in a LOT of
unwanted interference with intermod/etc.

Being broadband, they bring in signals that may cause intermod, but
that can't "bring in intermod".

You'll do fine with a VHF 1/4 wave as a base station antenna for
scanner use.

Better than with a discone, but not for more than 2 bands - 150 and
450 - or 1 band of his choice.

The impedence mis-match of the cable won't make a whole lot of
difference to the scanner.

It won't make any difference to the scanner - the load doesn't care
about impedance mismatch.