Scanner, aerial/antenna question?

[HeathrowAirport]

Hello Guys,

I have bought the Uniden Bearcat UBC30XLT from ML&S and it work's really well outside the fence of Heathrow.

15 Miles out and surrounded by buildings i can hear APP, not as loud as the planes and i can hear TWR and GND and DEL as well when at my nans house. Luton ATIS, City, and Gatwick Directors. And most of London TMA.

This is what i need to know and want to do.

I want to improve the quality of picking up the frequencies, especially Heathrow and Gatwick and LTMA.

I want to know what upgrades in aerial for my Scanner would be good enough to pick things up clearer.

What parts do i need to build my aerial/antenna set that can either be fitted just outside my bedroom window and i can remove it if the neighbors start moaning. Also that i can be placed in my bedroom. on the floor.

I can pick up the a/c clearly in a good proximity but picking up Heathrow Controllers can be hard at times. So i would have thought better aerial and much bigger one would be more better for me to listen in.

I am also limited on cash after buying this scanner. About £10-£20, £25 MAX.


Regards,

Robbie

P.s: Some stuff i was looking at.

If not somewhere in London that is not internet based and shop based that i can pick this stuff up.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ModuleNo=29609&doy=11m4

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITAG=SPEC&ModuleNo=29613&doy=11m4#spec

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?criteria=QT34M&DOY=11m4

Also is there a cheaper altentive of building the Aerial/Atenna myself and the parts required to connecting it up? Any guides? Or what it should look like and what metal material is greatly required to pick up LHR/LGW and LTMA with no problems and high Squelch level, like 10 and not 3.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

First and foremost, what you are doing contravenes the Wireless Telegraphy Acy. I.e. it is illegal.

Secondly, the amount of money you mention is not going to improve your set up very much.

Metal quality will make little diffrerence to the received signal. What matters most is line-of-sight between you and the transmitter and at VHF this is critcal. Getting a good antenna as high in the air as possible helps, but may not help if your location is wrong. Transmissions you are listening to do not necessarily come from an airfield. London Control transmissions are broadcast from various stations around the country. If you are out of range of them then you won't hear them.

There are several off-the-shelf magazines devoted to your interest so maybe you should consult them.

[Wodrick]

You don't need overkill, like the first antenna you have linked to. The second link is probably ok but still overkill for an Airband application. Google for Airband antennas or aerials and there are many. Look for the style of the one in the second link but for airband only. Do not pay extra for one with Transmit capability as you don't need it. It needs to be a vertical rod with a ground plane that is all. Anything (largely) will be better than the antenna that comes with the scanner, those 'rudder duck' things are a real compromise. The real trick is to get it outside and as high as you possibly can.

[forget]

Buy some single core wire from Halfords. Get into the loft and fasten one end as high as you can in the rafters. Poke a (tiny) hole in you bedroom ceiling and run the other end through it. Your radio probably has an external antenna connection/screw attachment. Fasten the other end of the wire there. Job done.

[HeathrowAirport]

Hello Guys,


Thanks for the much needed Information.


I will see what i can do with this as i am training to be a CPL soon and i am using this as Educational basis.


Regards,

Robbie

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

forget - that just will not work at VHF!! It might do on an HF radio but he would be far better off cutting himself a simple half-wave dipole and feeding it with good co-ax. Simply sticking a long piece of wire in the back of a scanner will introduce all manner of interference.

HeathrowAirport - whether you are training or not, the law still applies so just be very careful. Should you be apprehended, Mr Plod is unlikely to accept that a 15-year old is training to be a commercial pilot!!

[forget]

forget - that just will not work at VHF!!

'Course it will work. Simple physics tells me it will - and 40 years in radio/avionics. ;)

[HeathrowAirport]

HeathrowAirport - whether you are training or not, the law still applies so just be very careful. Should you be apprehended, Mr Plod is unlikely to accept that a 15-year old is training to be a commercial pilot!!

I understand the law, even though how stupid it is.

I took it to LHR yesterday and the police did not intervene at all and was not bothered. They walked by and said Hello.

What do i have to worry about though?

If i take to LHR next time i will place in my pocked and with Headphones on and not take the huge aerial i plan to get/build.

The reason i am doing this is so i can use it home and be out of police sight. I ain't going to broadcast, pass on even thought illegal to listen but hey.

Your an ex-atco, even thought fully trained and an expert do you listen in?:O

I hope that the WTA get's wiped for Airband as it's totally pointless.

Ofcom get your head together please.


Regards,

Rob

[diddy1234]

funny that, When I am at airshows there are plenty of people listening on scanners !

These peope are not getting up to any harm and no one seems to bother telling people to turn these devices off.

The law is stupid in this regard, I don't know of any problems listening to aircraft using scanners.

I would imagine it's also illegal to use a scanner with acars software as well. how stupid !

Still in this day and age of living in a nanny state, It won't be long before people with scanners are branded a terrorist !

sorry rant over with

RD

[take-off]

the words LAW and ASS come to mind, go to MAN's viewing park at weekend and 9 times out of 10 its very busy , all the guys(and gals!:ok:) there , and plenty of scanners in visable use, even coppers come ride round have occasional word see what happening like , never once they said owt bout use of scanners,more like 'which one you got?, Is it any good?'. If your sensible with it and not doing anything stupid, your get left to mind yer own business...

[frostbite]

If you're handy with a soldering iron you could make yourself a good antenna on the 'Slim Jim' basis with aluminium rod or even 300ohm ribbon cable.

In the latter case you can seal it in plastic conduit with just the 50ohm cable exiting at the base.

[west lakes]

B&Q, two pieces of aluminium rod, cut to about 625mm each
Fit into an insulated holder one going up one down (piece of wood with holes drilled in it), with the ends separated in the "holder" by 50mm.
From the store earlier (use store finder on that site, plenty in london)
Some RG58 cable and a bnc connector (or one suitable for your scanner)
Hang aerial vertically in loft and away you go

[paarmo]

The only people who have been prosecuted for using scanners since the old king died have been scussers who have used them to listen to Police radio whilst burglaring etc or ones that have been found on scussers and the Police have nothing else on them. The figures issued at the end of the year for prosecutions are all this type of people.
Scan on young man and fear not.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

forget.... I'm astounded at your assurance!!! If he tried a quarter-wave piece of wire it may produce results but if you do not realise that a random length of wire stuffed in the back of any VHF radio will not work as well as a properly cut antenna then your 40 year in radio/avionics leave something to be desired!! You surely realise that scanners are like barn doors - no filtering or tuned inputs. Shove a long bit of wire, without an ATU, in his scanner and our friend will more than likely get radio 4 on the airband. However, if he uses a half-wave dipole not only will reception be enhanced, but it will go someway to filtering out out-of-band signals.

HD (30 years radio amateur, cycling proficiency badge, film projectionist, etc, etc)

[frostbite]

Which is why I suggested the Slim Jim - essentially a 1/2 wave over a 1/4 wave and very inconspicuous.

(plus what HD said but not the cycling bit)

[forget]

scanners are like barn doors - no filtering or tuned inputs.

True ----- 20 years ago when scanners were a back-street production job with a half-inch soldering iron. They now use custom designed Integrated Circuits. The receiver front end is as good as any – not because the designer insists on that. He just hasn’t got a choice.

Heathrow Airport. Try the long wire - and report back. ;)

[boeing_eng]

Ignore Heathrow Director......He never fails to give his sermons on the technical legalities of Airband listening in the UK!

No enthusiast has ever been prosecuted in my 30+ years of scanning (and the Police see a wide variety of receivers in use all around the UK on a daily basis)

[HeathrowAirport]

Hello guys,

Today my mum bought me an attena, It's about 1ft long and is made for Airband that's what the people at the shop said. I could not refuse it as it was good. Question at bottom BTW!

I can hear EGLL Finals, EGLL South Director, EGLL North with some problems due to my bedroom on the south i can hear them lightly as it has to go through my house., Planes at BNN are very hard to hear but LAM and before they come to Finals is no problem. Gatwick APP very Clearly and considering it's further away from me too it's rather outstanding.

The rest i am not sure, i was picking up DUTCH ATC a little bit and i thought to myself WTF! I must have been dreaming then, i could not hear city as it's closed right now BTW!, I might hear london control if i knew the frequencies and if i could have a free list to browse as this one seems half out of date. http://www.javiation.co.uk/vu.html

Just a question if i build what you said HeathrowDirector, instead of getting rid of my mums new aerial she got me. How can i get a splitter? that splits the Coax for two aerials?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=223725&doy=12m4
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=223727&doy=12m4

And what else as i can't pick up the Controller side of LHR TWR, that's a P*** take. :=

Regards,

Rob