imported post
quentusrex wrote:
What size antenna would get what amount of range?
That is a hugely complex question relying on a ton of different factors. I'll dispel one myth for you right quick though: Bigger isn't necessarily better. Once you get to a certain point, making an antenna longer actually makes it less efficient, and you have to look at other techniques to improve gain, like balancing the system impedance, raising the antenna height, using more efficient cable or switching to antennas with non-omni-directional/focused radiation patterns.
I'm pretty sure some of the smaller handhelds won't pick up Redmond from the Greenwood area.
Redmond police and fire is on (or at least rebroadcast on) the S-KCPS (Seattle-King County Public Safety) 800MHz Motorola Type II Trunking system, so you can listen to them anywhere you can hear one of the system's simulcasts. You can hear at least the Seattle and King simulcast from Greenwood, and probably the ESPCA silmulcast as well, so you should have no trouble monitoring Redmond with any handheld scanner capable of monitoring Moto Type II, even if you can't directly hear the Redmond-area fill-ins. If you want I can drive out there and verify; I live in Lake City near Northgate so it's just a hop across the freeway.
Now, if you want to listen to other stuff in Redmond, like security or ambulance companies, it might be a different story.
edit: Oops, I may be wrong about this. Seattle is set up a little different than Portland and I'm still learning the ins and outs. Looks like you may have to listen to the ESCPA simulcast, and its likely to be pretty marginal where you are on a handheld. Not that you couldn't attach a better antenna...
I guess this is a physics question now...
Nope, thank's the advant of trunking technology and the desire of system implementers to use wasteful silmulcasts when they are totally unnecessary, we can listen to anything, anywhere!