new scanner purchased

what_car

hi folks

well purchased a new icom R5 scanner today,

got also sma to bnc connector

and Sky Scan Mobile Scanner Antenna from maplins
http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?ITAG=FAQ&ModuleNo=29733&doy=29m3#faq

would this antenna be suitable to receive satellite weather images and ACARS data?

thanks in advance for info

watty

Weather Satellite

Not really. Probably negative gain. The aerial needs to be outdoor on pole or chimney (height is not an issue, just clear view of sky all directions, for Weather (WX) satellite).
This is much better scanner aerial, and suitable for outdoors.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29609&criteria=discone&doy=29m3

You also need http://www.stoff.pl/ Orbitron to know when ANY satellite is near.

This program also tells you when the WX satellite is passing and does reception decoding.
http://www.wxtoimg.com/
Plug ear out of scanner to LineIn or Mic in of sound card.
It's 137.xxx MHz FM
I found that my cheapish Bearcat UBC68XL worked well and the Yaesu VR500 gave much poorer results as its bandwidth is too narrow on NBFM and too Wide on WBFM.

"Better" receivers often have unsuitable bandwidth for Weather Satellite.

(The Yaesu VR500 is similar size and spec to Icom R5, except has a handy keypad to type in a frequency).

You can get a dedicated WX receiver here:
http://www.minikits.com.au/kits3.html
Scroll down

EME117 KIT Basic Receiver Kit $ 80.00 AUD

what_car

watty wrote: »

Weather Satellite

Not really. Probably negative gain. The aerial needs to be outdoor on pole or chimney (height is not an issue, just clear view of sky all directions, for Weather (WX) satellite).
This is much better scanner aerial, and suitable for outdoors.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29609&criteria=discone&doy=29m3

You also need http://www.stoff.pl/ Orbitron to know when ANY satellite is near.

This program also tells you when the WX satellite is passing and does reception decoding.
http://www.wxtoimg.com/
Plug ear out of scanner to LineIn or Mic in of sound card.
It's 137.xxx MHz FM
I found that my cheapish Bearcat UBC68XL worked well and the Yaesu VR500 gave much poorer results as its bandwidth is too narrow on NBFM and too Wide on WBFM.

"Better" receivers often have unsuitable bandwidth for Weather Satellite.

(The Yaesu VR500 is similar size and spec to Icom R5, except has a handy keypad to type in a frequency).

You can get a dedicated WX receiver here:
http://www.minikits.com.au/kits3.html
Scroll down

EME117 KIT Basic Receiver Kit $ 80.00 AUD

ok thanks for the info. would the antenna that i bought make any improvement on receiving at all? like if i wanted to get acars data would it help or just use the antenna that came with thescanner?

cheers

watty

it might help a bit on the window sill upstairs...