Ham Radio Antenna?

[Teky0101 6]

Hello Everyone,

Last year I purchase a small handheld Baofeng Pofung GT-3TP Ham radio. I came across a Youtube video which demonstrated that you can plug an antenna into these radios and pickup long range signals.I was wondering if I purchased the Dual Band VHF / UHF Gain Base Station Antenna ANLI A-100 from Amazon if this would allow me to pickup more transmissions in my area? Also if this is the correct antenna what cables and connectors would I need to hook up this antenna?  I do not yet have a license and only want to listen to the frequencies as a scanner. Thank you for any assistance you can provide it is greatly appreciated.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Station-Antenna-ANLI-A-100-Amateur/dp/B0093N20D0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

http://www.amazon.com/GT-3TP-Mark-III-Tri-Power-Transceiver-Upgraded/dp/B00T5UVSIY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1455740699&sr=1-1&keywords=gt-3tp

[GrumpyOldRetiree 38]

Based on the links you provided, that antenna is the correct dual band antenna for that radio. With a good quality, low loss cable (I'm partial to LMR400 ultraflex) it  should extend your range. The cable ends should be PL-259's. You will also need a pigtail lead to connect the radio to the cable. I have used a Diamond X30A  (looks similar to the antenna you listed) with my Baofeng HT and got good results with it.

 

Two observations:

 

1. For extending the range, antenna placement is 80% of the battle. Generally, the higher the better. That antenna, mounted on a 2 foot post in your backyard may disappoint you.

 

2. Unless you've got a buddy that you will be operating simplex with, you will probably be hearing repeater output. Before you buy anything, go to Repeaterbook.com and look up repeaters in your area.

Tune (and sit on frequency, listening for traffic) to repeaters in your area to try to determine your effective range. Without a ham or gmrs license, you won't know if you can reach the repeater, but your receive signal strength should give you some indication of what is in range. This is a little tedious, but better the just scanning the band. When I got my first Baofeng, I was surprised how much better it performed when I replaced the supplied antenna with a Nygoya (spelling?) 771. It is an aftermarket HT antenna.

 

Good luck and study for your license!

[W2MC 1,699]

It all depends on what you want to do......do you want to listen to every band, like a scanner, or just the ham bands?  The antenna you point out is designed to perform in the ham bands....it wont be much better than a coathanger elsewhere.

 

If you want to listen as a scanner, you might do better to get a receiver and a wideband antenna, like a discone.  The discones do not have a tremendous amount of gain, but they make up for it by being extremely wide banded.  A discone looks something like this:  

 

http://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-013537

 

its $39.95, and comes with 50 feet of coax...note that the coax is rg-58; perfectly fine for receiving, but not great for transmitting-its very lossy at these frequencies.

 

Your baofeng is designed to be good on the ham bands, but is so so elsewhere.  This discone will listen wherever the baofeng can, and the height gain will at least make up for the cable losses if/when you transmit as well.

[Teky0101 6]

Hello GrumpyOldRetiree and W2MC,

Thank you very much for the help. Is there an inexpensive antenna to get the best of both worlds concerning transmission and receiving signals? Also is the cable used the hook up the transmitters the same as the Comcast TV cable? Also Grumpyoldretiree thank you very much for breaking down all of the adapters I will need to hook up the antenna.

[GrumpyOldRetiree 38]

Re cable: No, the cable for Cable TV is 75 ohm cable, usually RG6. You need 50 ohm impedance  cable.

Nothing will kill your performance like a large impedance mismatch like using RG6.

 

If you are handy, there are quite a few demos on the net for homemade antennas. You can't get much cheaper then that.

 

Heck, on HF (high frequency) I've QSO'ed all over the world using a homemade dipole antenna (essentially, just 2 pieces of common wire) strung up in my attic.(And I'm no antenna engineer)

 

When I first got started in the hobby, my elmer (mentor) used to tease me that I was spending too much time fretting about my antenna performance and not enough time on the air.

I may be wrong, but I kinda got that feeling from you.

 

Get your Technician License (the test isn't hard), get on the air with that HT and see what it does before you start sweating this other stuff.

[W2MC 1,699]

My advice to those who are considering a technician license - get one of the Q and A books - there are several out there, and read it thru two or three times looking ONLY AT THE RIGHT ANSWERS.  When you take the exam, which will be a test of 35 of the same questions you have just been reading, your mind will be drawn to the correct answers; because you wont be familiar with the wrong ones.  You need to make 70 or 75% (I forget which) to pass the exam, and in a few days the FCC will issue you a callsign and you can start talking instead of just listening.

 

When you're ready, you can test over at West Berlin NJ - my club runs testing for FREE at a place (roughly) behind the Walmart on Rt 73 every second Wednesday of the month.  Might even meet me there...

 

And I second Grumpy's advice...Get your Technician License (the test isn't hard), get on the air with that HT and see what it does before you start sweating this other stuff.

[Teky0101 6]

Hello GrumpyOldRetiree and W2MC,

I would like to thank you for your knowledgeable advice. Obtaining my ham radio license is something I have been looking into but its hard to find a testing location and dates in South Jersey. W2MC I am curious how often does your club run the testing dates? Does you club have a website or calendar of events I could check out? I live in Gloucester County so your club is not to far away. I have not yet purchased the larger antenna for the roof but I did purchase a 15" antenna for the radio to try and extend the range and signal strength for my area. I really like to listen to the local police but they have been really hard to locate recently on the radio. I am not sure if they switched to an encoded frequency. I did find the frequency online but the ham accepts frequencies six digits long while the broadcast number they provide is eight digits is there a way to enter longer frequencies using the Baofeng radio? The frequency I am looking to access if from the West Deptford police. Below is the information I obtained from www.radioreference.com Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.

 

Frequency:

506.48750

License:

WIL620

Type:

RM

Tone:

167.9 PL

Alpha Tag:

W Dpfrd PD 

Description:

Police 

Mode:

FM 

Tag:

Law Talk 

[djg0770 481]

In my experience, this is easier to complete with the programming cable and CHIRP software as you need to permit the radio to go outside some defaults (which I believe can otherwise be configured manually but that I don't know how to do).

[Newtonian 453]

I purchased a very large copper tube "trombone" antenna for 2m/440. Moved it all around my attic. No improvement in RX.

[tinman22 0]

I think he could program that frequency if he sets the radio for 2.5hz step. Then enter the 6 digit frequency 2.5 lower and then use the channel up button once and it should put him. On target. Not sure I'm explaining it right but I'm pretty sure it could be done. It just won't show the 50 on the screen

[W2MC 1,699]

Hello GrumpyOldRetiree and W2MC,

I would like to thank you for your knowledgeable advice. Obtaining my ham radio license is something I have been looking into but its hard to find a testing location and dates in South Jersey. W2MC I am curious how often does your club run the testing dates? Does you club have a website or calendar of events I could check out? I live in Gloucester County so your club is not to far away. I have not yet purchased the larger antenna for the roof but I did purchase a 15" antenna for the radio to try and extend the range and signal strength for my area. I really like to listen to the local police but they have been really hard to locate recently on the radio. I am not sure if they switched to an encoded frequency. I did find the frequency online but the ham accepts frequencies six digits long while the broadcast number they provide is eight digits is there a way to enter longer frequencies using the Baofeng radio? The frequency I am looking to access if from the West Deptford police. Below is the information I obtained from www.radioreference.com Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.

 

Frequency:

506.48750

License:

WIL620

Type:

RM

Tone:

167.9 PL

Alpha Tag:

W Dpfrd PD 

Description:

Police 

Mode:

FM 

Tag:

Law Talk 

 

 

I dont know much about the depford PD, and I know even less about Gloucester County and its emergency services radio.  I spent about 30 years in burlington county on the vol fire service there, but they went trunking about 10 years ago, so without a trunking radio, all you will be able to hear is dispatch (which never moved from 154.220) and a couple of the fire police frequencies.

 

My club is the south jersey radio association.  The club is turning 100 years old this year, and our claim to fame is we are the oldest continuously meeting amateur radio club in north america.   Continuously meeting is the key - there are "older" clubs, but many of them are tied to universities (where the membership came and went - sometimes not meeting for years - and others that shut down for ww 1 and ww 2.

 

Anyhow....the web page is www.sjra.org and the testing info is at 

 

http://sjra.org/basic-page/amateur-radio-license-exams

 

We test the second wednesday of the month.

 

Have fun!

 

Jon

W2MC