I feel like a total LID!

It just popped into my feeble brain that you have a 2011 Durango. Mine is a Generation 2 from 2008.

Obviously, the specifics are different, but the concept should work anyway.

Sorry for any confusion I threw into the game!

 

Sounds like it is a bit late now that you've apparently installed, but for those with the older generation with a "normal" antenna, a great scanner antenna is a scanner splitter. These are available online for pretty cheap and they work great. The splitter goes near your radio and provides a coax connection for your scanner, no holes drilled, no extra cabling, and no extra antennas. Obviously would not want to transmit that way. This might work for the newer generation though you'd need to figure out where to place the splitter so it does not impact satellite reception. That's probably a separate cable from AM/FM anyway.

Now you've gotten me thinking of adding an antenna to my 2012, and I plan to put a roof mount in with a Comet B-10NMO. It is the lowest clearance (12") dual band ham antenna and should work great for a scanner as well. I only have about 13" clearance on my garage door. These get great reviews.

 

I decided to roof mount a 13.8" Diamond NR72BNMO dual-band antenna as I remeasured and found I have just enough clearance for it. Have had one of these on another vehicle and they work great. Found that the local 2-way shop will install an NMO mount and route the cable for $50, including the mount and connector of my choice. I'm leaning towards having them do it since they can do it in about 20 minutes.

I had been concerned about keeping RF away from the airbag wiring, but they say they have never seen any issues. They did show me how easy it is to route the cable from a mount over the domelight - you pull down the door seal in one of the rear door openings, run the cable above the side-curtain airbag, then down the column between front and back seats. The headliner is simply a stiff shaped cardboardish panel with fabric over it, so it just pulls down for access - you can see the domelight. I'm mounting the radio under the drivers seat so would probably run the antenna cable on that side.

 

Excellent antenna choice. I have used them on and off over the years and always found they worked well for me.

For $50, I'd let them do it. It's really easy to do, but peace of mind is important too!

73,
WA2OLZ

 

For those still wanting to utilize the factory antenna for transmit - which we've shot down - there is an alternative. The company in the link below makes a replacement for your factory antenna which handles all of it's intended functions plus can be set up to handle transceivers on specific frequency ranges and scanners. These are for undercover so probably not cheap or easy to install.

http://www.licenseplateantenna.com/

I considered that along with other alternatives to avoid making a hole and to have garage clearance. I dismissed license plate mounts due to a number of reasons such as blocking the camera and no ground plane, trailer hitch because of tailgate hitting it and no ground plane, and glass mount due to tinting and no ground plane. Considered a lip mount on the tailgate, but running cable could be challenging - and no ground plane. Considered hood mount - while it has a ground plane, it would not look good and might interfere with electronics. Magnet mount is not a good long term solution. So - about all that was left was a short NMO with a hole mount on the roof.