I have an old Uniden BCT-2 scanner that I want to install in my truck. It has weather radio and DOT scanning, which is great for traffic and weather info. I'll rarely use the police and highway patrol part.

Anyway, it has an antenna banana plug in back, but John sent me a banana to BNC converter a while back that I can use. It won't work well without an external antenna, so I was looking at something like this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...760913563&rd=1

Whaa do ya'll think of my idea?

 

I speak with unfortunate experience on that antenna. Don't waste your money. It is a worthless piece of junk. A jelly donut with the coax shoved in side would work better.

Hunt around online for an antenna by "Antenna Specialists" model # MONR33. What band is your DOT?

 

I guess that means I won't be purchasing that particular antenna
Thanks for the info, I'll look for the MONR33.

The one scanner does DOT, weather, highway patrol and police. You just tell it which state your in, and it scans. I've had it for many years, and used it mainly for weather info. I'm not sure about the band for DOT. I'm assuming it's probably somewhere with the other freqs.

 

Matt,

I found this one from the AS site, will it work?

http://www.antenna.com/trunking_cat/trkpg02.html

 

Nope. That is an 800Mhz antenna.

Personally, I would avoid any glass mount antenna. I've never met one that I liked and anything that had any worthwhile receiving capabilities is going to be way to big to look decent on a window.

I really need to know what band you are listening to the DOT on. If I knew that, I could easily pick an appropriate antenna for you. If they are on VHF or UHF, then a simple 19" quartwave whip will work flawlessly. If they are on low band, it will require a bigger antenna. I seem to recall FL having a statewide 800Mhz Astro system. I don't know if the DOT is on it or it is just the highway patrol. Are you looking for State DOT or something local.

 

I'm trying to ask Uniden about that now.

I keep transferring between parts and tech support. No one seems to have a clue. Those things are pre-programmed, so it's not rocket science.

 

They finally cross referanced and figured out that I need a 29-800 mhz 50 ohm antenna. Does that make any sense. I'm beginning to realize why I haven't hooked this thing up yet.

 

They had to think about that? That's like saying "Yes sir. After several hours of careful analysis and study of our paperwork, we've determined your truck runs on gas." Every two-way radio device (for all practical purposes other than some Ham gear and TV) uses a 50 ohm antenna with a bandwidth appropriate for the radio. Calling Uniden tech support is wasted time you can never get back :)

It's the frequencies of the DOT that I need to know.

 

Don't worry about the DOT scanning. most of the time they are just talking about lunchtime or the best place to take a nap. I just need weather and emergency vehicle bands.

 

OK. Give me a little bit and I will do some hunting for what is used in your area. In the meantime, is there any other option other than a glass-mount you would accept? Magnet, roof mount, L-Bracket next to the hood, etc?

 

Well, the glass would be the easiest, since the scanner will go up on the rear cab wall. I could run a cable through the floor, but where would I attach the antenna?

Magnetic roof mount? No please, can't stand those.

 

Hey Matt,

Firgure out anything yet?

 

Well, here's what I've been able to dig up. In short, you're screwed.

Pasco County is using an EDACS 800Mhz trunking systems. That scanner is not going to do you much good. The county Sherriff, Fire, EMS, and highway crews are all on it. I found only 2 licenses for Pasco County that are not on the trunked system:

453.150 (Non-Specific Agency)
460.625 (Zephyrhills Fire Dept)

Florida Highway Patrol, Fish & Game, Corrections, ATF, DOT, and the state universities are on a new statewide trunking system that is also not monitorable on that scanner.

 

Very interesting, I never knew that. Of course my scanner experiance is slim to none anyway. Thanks for checking that info for me. I guess I'll dump the scanner and maybe pick up a CB.
Thanks Matt

 

Gahh!! EDACS!!! nooooo! A Smartzone Astro system would be nice, but then you have to deal with (if you have the M radios) the sys admin killing the radio.

George, your pretty much screwed on that one, I havent seen any scanners that can do EDACS yet, and much less, I know that if your not Police / Fire, or an ham radio op, that by law you can't have a scanner mounted in the car.

 

I wonder if the weather portion will still work? I'll have to test it this weekend. Maybe I can still use the thing.

 

If you're looking to get rid of it look my way please Gary :)

 

Surely that's not so! No friggin' way! I mean it's only a receiver! What the heck is the reasoning behind that one?!

 

I dont know the reasoning behind it, but I would guess to try and curb the income of drugs (Dealers listen to it, know that the PoPo is taking them down, Dealer shoots PoPo)

http://www.geocities.com/cyfy325/law.html

 

FL law

 

I guess that doesn't apply in this case, as the police are off all the frequencies scanned by this radio

 

.

 

Oops, forget that part. I never said that. I was never here.

 

That's total BS.. I can't imagine how they even think about enforcing that one..

On a slightly OT subject, google and I stumbled on this. Whoa! More info than I'd ever care to know..

Slightly more on topic, a couple of the guys were talking about this Radio-smack scanner that will receive trunked and digital..

 

I use the LI scanner page a lot actually, a lot of the info is outdated, and some of it is mislabeled. For the times I need something more detail, I use the FCC databases.