Some of the large, multi-section, multi-band ham antennas like the
RH77CA and AL-500H are much better than the stock duckie, but they were
really designed for a few specific ham radio frequencies. The fact they
work better than stock is more a testament of how bad the stock antenna
is, not that the others are that magical on odd off frequency bands like
VHF and UHF mil air. There is an antenna specifically designed for the
90 to 512mhz band that does work consistently well, especially in the
VHF and UHF air bands, which lie in the middle of its working range. If
you are lucky you can find one surplus for a cheap price like I did. The
antenna is a 14” long rubber duck made by Thales (Racal) for the PRC-148
MBITR multi-band hand held. It costs around $245 new (P/N 3100662-501)
and you have to change the BNC connector on your scanner to TNC or use
an adaptor. I have used one of these antennas on 2m, 220 and 440mhz
amateur freqs and it works noticeably better than the supplied antennas
with various hand helds I have compared it to. It also pulls in VHF and
UHF air way better than the stock duckie on my PRO-43, which is what the
original post is about. You did ask what is the best, didn’t you??
Bob


Frank wrote:
I know there are some good ones out there (Diamond RH77CA, Maldor AL-500H).
I want some real users opinions on which hand-held scanner antenna works
best for airbands (civil & military)?


Frank