Railfan Technology > Radio Shack Pro-135 Scanner Antenna

I have a 3 foot tall antenna I attach to the rood of my car for my scanner, but I'm having an issue of, I have a Radio Shack PRO-135 scanner and I lost the original antenna that came with it. So I would like to ask if anyone has a similar antenna or another good one I can attach to the top of the scanner so I can make it portable instead of always using the antenna mounted on the top of my car.

I'm not sure of the type connector you have on that scanner, probably a BNC, maybe a SCM (male or female.) You can google those for pictures to identify what you have. I rather decent antenna can be had for about $20 from MFJ Enterprises. The MFJ-1716 is about 6 inches long, the MFJ-1717 is about 17 inches long and has slightly better performance. They both have different suffixes dependent on the type of connector you need. Call them and they can help you with the correct connector.

I looked up the Pro-135 and it looks like it has a BNC connector.

John

John, yes it's a BNC connection. So with the 6 inch and 17 inch antenna, the 17 would be better then 6? Reason I ask is because I am hoping that the 17 inch can go up to 10 to 15 miles range or can the 6 inch antenna do the same thing?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/17 07:47 by cornerfieldhobby.

That's a difficult question. It depends on so many things. Your elevation, the elevation of the station you are trying to hear, terrain around each of those, power of the transmitter, vegetation, and other things. I'm a ham and there is a repeater I usually use. I can't talk to it from my condo or even the driveway. I can work it a half block down the street. I can work it when I'm 10 miles further away. So, I can't give you an answer. I will say this, I have found the 17" antenna to out perform the shorter antennas. An antenna for the 161MHz range is about 17". Anything shorter is a compromise. I made a test a few years ago to compare a rubber duckie and the longer antenna. I sat the radio on a counter with the duckie on it. I could hear 3 NOAA weather stations the with duckie. I changed to the longer antenna and was able to hear 5 station..I made sure not to move the radio while changing the antennas.

So how far can you hear another station? I don't know. It depends on ............

John

Agree it's hard to estimate range with so many variables. Generally, with all variables being the same (all variables being constant?) the more exposed area on a receiving antenna provides for better reception, given what we already know about 1/4 wave, 5/8 wave etc.

I did find an interesting point about the taller antenna construction, the two meter antenna really is a 1/4 wave in length, in a straight line so to speak, not in a helix or some contortion. So there is a reason to believe it would receive better than the shorter antenna:

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-1717

The Most Popular Handheld Duck Antenna High gain dual band 144/440 MHz Flexible Duck antenna. 15 3⁄4" long, its 15 1⁄2 wave on 440 MHz that gives a hearty 2.15 dBi gain. On 2 Meters you get an efficient full size 1⁄4 wave precisely factory tune for low SWR. High-Q, low loss construction.