Uniden BCD996T + Phantom Antenna

[hawkspringsfire]

I am wanting to get rid of the antennas on my vehicle and go with phantom antennas. I don't want to loose the good coverage I am gettting with my current antennas. Will the phantom antennas still get good coverage? Here is a picture of what my antennas look like now. I want to go more slicktop and go with all phantom antennas. Pro/cons on the idea. Note: the second larsen antenna has been replaced with a Antenex B132S for my scanner.

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

For UHF and above, they are great, most have 2 DB or better gain. Stay away from them for VHF, no gain and very narrow bandwidth.

 

[hawkspringsfire]

Here is the one that I am looking at. Good...bad?


http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_192_195_457_211&products_id=780&zenid=73b982f5f17583b78fe4450244f5c7d8

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

Here is the one that I am looking at. Good...bad?
http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=191_192_195_457_211&products_id=780&zenid=73b982f5f17583b78fe4450244f5c7d8

1 MHz bandwidth, needs to be tuned for the frequency, no gain.


What are your plans for it?

 

[hawkspringsfire]

1 MHz bandwidth, needs to be tuned for the frequency, no gain.

What are your plans for it?

Both my radio and scanner will need to get coverage on the 150-160 range. My main goal is to get rid of the tall antennas and go more covert with the phantom antennas.

 

[Core Public Safety]

The Phantoms are great on UHF, and 800 Mhz. I would not go with a regular phantom VHF, I would look into a Phantom Elite. That will give you a slightly larger band width window.

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

The Phantoms are great on UHF, and 800 Mhz. I would not go with a regular phantom VHF, I would look into a Phantom Elite. That will give you a slightly larger band width window.

But it still won't give him 10 MHz bandwidth since the Elite series is cut in 5 MHz steps (i.e. 150 - 155). It may or may not work for the scanner, and if the frequencies he needs for the radio are on wither side of 155, he will need two. And I believe the bandwidth is still only 1 MHz and still no gain.


In short VHF stealth antennas do not work as well as a 1/4 or 5/8 wave whip.

 

[hawkspringsfire]

Ok I guess I will just stick with the antennas I have.

 

[resqguy]

Just another view. I have been using the 150-155 Phantom Elite on a 996 for over a year due to garage height restrictions. I honestly get great performance over the whole range from 39-800MHz, considering the size. I'm not looking to pull in far off stations, but I routinely get VHF-hi (base stations) from 60 miles out, and VHF-Lo pretty well also. UHF-T seems to work well too, from the next county. I used teflon RG142 coax and a solid brass NMO. The only weak point was you have to change out the mount ring for the VHF Elite-specific one (quarter-turn to lock).

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

Just another view. I have been using the 150-155 Phantom Elite on a 996 for over a year due to garage height restrictions. I honestly get great performance over the whole range from 39-800MHz, considering the size. I'm not looking to pull in far off stations, but I routinely get VHF-hi (base stations) from 60 miles out, and VHF-Lo pretty well also. UHF-T seems to work well too, from the next county. I used teflon RG142 coax and a solid brass NMO. The only weak point was you have to change out the mount ring for the VHF Elite-specific one (quarter-turn to lock).

I thought you were still running the whip...

 

[WhiteLite03]

I thought you were still running the whip...

Last comment wasn't made by the OP...

 

[resqguy]

I thought you were still running the whip...

Nope! Been a while now, and pulling in P barrack from Q areas!

 

[SlickTop Solutions]

Last comment wasn't made by the OP...

I was aware of that when I posted the comment. I know reqguy personally.


Thanks.