Possibly my stangest question asked so far...

[Foehammer2003]

K so i recently purchased a wideband receiver (which is great) and am looking a purchasing a 'Mag Mount' antenna for it, now for those of you who dont know about receiving transmissions the mag mount is a large magnet at the base of the antenna, for which there are two reasons: 1. to keep it on a car without it having to be permentantly attached and 2. a metal base is then used as a 'groundplane' which increases recieved signal strength.

Very nice you may say, but what the heck has it got to do with pc's? Well i want to put said magmount on my pc. ( pc on desk next to me, antenna on top leading to scanner beside it) And while the PC will no douobt make a great ground plate will the magnet harm my PC at all? It'll be far away enough from the HD im guessing ( we are not talking earth magnets here) but would be located right above the PSU... now as i have written this, im now thinking its not worth it and probably wont be good.. anyone have any definate points to make on this?

Also handily i have the option to make a setting where the scanner will use a plugged in set of headphones as an antenna also, so would it be possible safely lead a wire to the ground pins on my mains supply(wall socket)? thus possibly acting as a HUGE antenna, not cut to wavelength sure but the size will make up for that. Thanks to anyone who can help, or those who can convince me i'm going to blow something up!

 

[Hades]

I used to have one of those in the 80's when CB was all the rage

I'd not put something like that near my PC. For a start it's a strong magnet so I really would worry about the hdd. Next up is the issue of aluminium... if your case is not steel then it won't "mount". Then there's the question of monitor. If you have a CRT then keep it away otherwise it will distort the picture.

 

[Foehammer2003]

Genius... only i could over look the magnetic properties of aluminium or the lack thereof Thanks dude, saved me feeling like a fool when i go to stick the mag mount to the case *thump* \antenna drops pathetically to floor

How about my plug ground pin/internal house wiring as an antenna theory?

 

[Hades]

Glad I could have been of help Can't really answer your query with regards to the household earth. But my gut instinct tells me it's a bad idea to wire something to it. It's there for a reason - to discharge current in the event of a short. Having something plugged in to it is probably not good if a short occurs (e.g. get a shock if you're touching it at the time). Just a guess though.

Can't you get a big lump of steel sheeting and mount it on that? Then hang it out the window or something?

 

[Foehammer2003]

I could but i live in the town centre... so no go on that front, i used to (in the ol' CB days) use either my 18 or 22ft di-pole's when i used to scan. Not allowed to attach such aerials to this listed building though And really dont want to spend £50+ on a indoor scanner antenna (hence cheaper mag mount)

Yeah i thought about the surges on the ground pin idea, still has not discouraged me though, unless the house gets hit by lightening it shouldn't do me any harm as i dont plan on touching the scanner while its plugged in like that... Thats all in principle though, depends if im brave/stupid enough to try it or not. Will have to let you know either way i guess.... unless i never log on again, then you can pretty much be assurred i failed miserably

 

[Hades]

How about getting a large tin of Roses chocolates and mounting it on that? Also run a grounding lead to a nearby central heating radiator. These should also be earthed.

 

[Foehammer2003]

good idea, tbh the radiator is right next to me, so the mag could just sit on that, however you gave me an idea, if i mod some headphones to lead to the radiator then polish and make a clean connection for the wire to attach to the radiator then that may work as a supersize receptor, dunno but its worth a go! Cheers!