Jim wrote:

Is there a good scanner preamp out there? I bought one of those coax
inline jobs from RS and it did nothing at all for my BC 245 or my BC
9000. I didn't notice any change at all. I am out in the country and
miles away from where I want to scan and I am thinking maybe I should
try different antennas now. Preamps just don't seem to help any. There
was an antenna called the condor is that still available?

I'm researching this same question myself. The one article I've found
discussing the Radio Shack amplifiers suggests that you should not use
part #15-1170 but either #15-1108 or #15-1109. I'm curious, what model
did you tried?

As I understand it also, these are best at amplifying the VHF, UHF and
FM frequency ranges which may not be what you're wanting. What
frequencies do you need to improve?

As far as antennas go, it seems that a Yagi tuned to your specific
frequency range will provide the best signal (at the cost of having to
point the antenna at your signal source). However, you mentioned the
'condor' which I believe is a handheld antenna so I'm wondering if
you've even tried a base omnidirectional antenna (like a discone) yet?

This page has antenna information and links to pages with specific
measurements for various antennas at various frequencies.

http://www.strongsignals.net/access/...t/antenna.html


--
Richard Kuhler