Got my third (of three) antennas installed and tested today.

First antenna was a VHF/UHF dual band (2M/70CM) that I use primarily for ham radio work on those two bands.

Second antenna was a custom J-pole optimized for MURS, which I use for local comms and security infrastructure (e.g. motion sensors & alarms).

Third antenna (this one) is a Sirio SD 200 N discone wide band optimized for analog & digital scanning between 100 MHz and 2 GHz.

I tested the new scanner antenna with a Uniden Bearcat BCD-396XT handheld scanner, and as you can see, it works great. I've used PC-based software to configure the Bearcat to essentially scan a few hundred local stations of interest, mostly public services (police, fire, medical, Federal agencies) and a few local ham radio repeaters. Note, in the video, that one or more of the stations picked up by the antenna and scanner are digital P25 stations, which is to say they are public safety networks using digital 'trunking' technology (e.g. frequency hopping) in an attempt to maintain an understandable degree of privacy (non-public comms).

My whole scanner platform is just another tool to add to our situational awareness capabilities. If that concept is unfamiliar or uninteresting to you, then you probably only enjoyed this video in the sense of waiting for me to finally fall off a ladder and confirm Murphy's Law (or Darwinism). ;)

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