"Tom" wrote in message
...
Hi

I have the Realistic Programmable scanner with 200 programable channels. A
lot of range there like 6 m, 2 m, 70 cm, marine, etc etc etc, wide range.

I want to put up an external antenna that I can hook it up to its own BNC
connection for external antenna. I believe the higher the better.

Which is better to run a bare copper wire longest and highest to connect
it to the BNC center? Or should I use coax and splice the center copper
feed to

You will not receive much with a long bare copper wire.

Get some coax, rg8x is good, the rg 6 type is also good and usually cheap.
Don't worry about the 70 ohm impedance of the rg-6 as the impedance is not
going to be 50 ohms anyway over much of the frequecny range. The lmr400 type
is beter, but I doubt that you will notice the differance if the length is
around 100 feet or less. Not worth the big price differance for a scanner
in many cases. The only problem with the rg6 may be the connectors as the
shield is usually aluminum or a material that will not take solder. The
crimp connectors are fine.

For the outside antenna, a discone type is often used. Really for a broad
band reception any ground plane or colinear will probably give you good
reception over a wide band. After all, the short antenna that usually comes
with the scanners often pick up many signals.