No Jeff, I'm not a ham but I have several friends who are. I have found
them to be the most helpful electronic guys I have ever met. I needed
some help installing a Willco board in my ICOM R 71-A sw radio. I looked
up several "callsigns" in my area who held the "advanced" license. I
called this one guy up and he said, "Yeah, bring the rig over." Long
story short, he installed the unit [back in 1992] and it's still working
great.

If you bought that "center loaded" telescoping antenna at Radio Shack,
it is the same one that I have on my Pro-95. It is a great antenna and
it does dramatically increase the range of the scanner. I can hear all
of the CHP freq's accept a few in LA. I can hear Bakersfield, but don't
get Buttonwillow until summer and the propagation is better.

Alain

Unigamer wrote:
Alain,

Thank you very much for the advice. This was just what I was looking
for, as I don't have a mast yet and have never mounted an outdoor
antenna before. I probably won't be doing this for a while, I need to
take care of business (school, etc.) and make sure I'm solidly back into
the scanning hobby before I spend the money and do the work.

I bought a telescoping (center loaded) antenna today for my handheld,
and it seems to help on some normally "wavery"/"iffy" freqs., although
I'm not expecting miracles out of a handheld antenna. LOL I thought it
really sucked at first, until I read the directions... and found out
that it's best to extend it to different lengths/with different sections
depending on the band you're listening to... guess like most things, it
works better after reading the directions.

Just wondering... are you a ham? I heard a ham on either 2-meter or
440Mhz that noted Palomar Mt. or whatever it is (via linked repeaters in
the WIN system). I know it's unlikely, but I guess it's worth asking.

Thank you,
Jeff

A.Pismo Clam wrote:

Jeff,

Most discones [mine is the Diamond] come with 2 "U" bolts in the
mounting kit that can be clamped around an outdoor television antenna
mast. If you are planning on an outdoor/roof mount and do not have an
antenna mast, here is my suggestion.

Look in your phone book for a company that sells chain-link fencing or
just go to Home Depot, if there is one in your town. I joined two,
10'lengths of fence mast together and then got two electrical conduit
clamps that fit the diameter of the pipe [from Home Depot] and
fastened them to the patio overhang.

Since we get some 70+ MPH winds here, I've had to guy wire the masts
to the patio roof so the antenna doesn't fly away! All you need now is
to get some 9913 coax cable, run it to your scanner and you're in
business.

If you are planning to mount the discone in your attic [because of an
HOA problem] someone here will give more details on that type of install.

All The Best!

Alain...Palomar Mountain [where the 200" Hale telescope is]

--
MZ�