The stock antenna actually performs quite well as a local public safety scanning antenna and does quite well on 800mhz. The acquisition of a Diamond SRH-77CA antenna has improved reception in the military bands and provided increased range on in the VHF and UHF land mobile antennas. The stock antenna still works best as a "carry antenna" because the SRH-77 is 15.5 inches long. The BC-396 with the SRH-77 is pictured below:
I also stumbled across a good way of using the BC-396 in the car. I have a Bracketron brand IPod bracket in the car that I've used for a 30GB IPod for awhile now. Here is a photo of that particular bracket
One afternoon while getting in the car to go to work, I happened to notice that the 396 was about the same width as my IPod in it's clear acrylic case. Afraid that the 396 would be too deep for the bracket, I tried putting the 396 in the bracket to see if it would stay. It stayed safely in the bracket even when going over railroad tracks, speedbumps, etc. The benefit of using this bracket is that you can position the radio closer to you line of sight, preventing you from having to look down at the radio on a seat or in a cupholder. Here is a photo of the 396 in the bracket to give you an idea of how it can position the radio (depending upon where the bracket is mounted of course):
Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net
