Testing/Quantifying scanner range (Western Mass)

[wmscanfan]

Greetings all. I've been very casually scanning for almost 25 years now and just upgraded from my trusty RS PRO-2006 to a BCD996XT. So far I have I have more or less figured out the programming and am using Proscan which makes it easier.

My questions relate to improving reception. I *feel* like I get pretty good reception, including some far away sites (I am in western part of hampshire county of Mass), but I'd like to improve on it anyway. I have a roof mounted discone antenna (from RS about 10 years ago, but don't remember the specifics), mounted outside. I have about 50 feet of RG8 and then another 30 feet of RG58 which I added in a pinch when my office moved from one end of the house to the other.

In the short term my plan is to replace the cable with a single 50ft run of LMR400 and I should see some improvements right there, I may also add another 5 feet to my mast to get it up just a bit higher than it is now.

My real question (finally) is, how can I quantify the gains I am making? I don't want to buy any specialized test equipment that measure signal strength, but are there specific towers in specific locations, that I can try and tune in after each improvement to see what the improved range is? I seem to be picking up signals from far away in the 800mhz state police bands, but I don't know much about where those towers are and if they are really being repeated out here in Mass (as opposed to me picking them up at the source). So what towers would I try to tune it (primarily in the 800Mhz range) to try and figure out how far my reach is?

I'd love to pickup a more frequency specific antenna with some built-in gain, but unfortunately a lot of the 'important' stations I want to monitor are still in the 150Mhz range out here; also the mid400's and now of course I can finally do some productive scanning in the 800Mhz range with the trunk tracking capabilities I have so it seems like the discone is the best bet for me for now.

How much difference would an extra 5-10 feet make on the height? What kind of improvements might I make by replacing the combo rg8/rg58 run with a single LMT400 run?

I don't mind spending a little bit of money, but don't want to buy 'better' without having some specific idea about how each improvement is making out.

Thanks all in advance!

[Rt169Radio]

Even that extra 5 or 10 feet will help, changing the coax is also another good thing. Also if its possible, look over your antenna for any damage that might hinder your getting more range. Another thing is that a discone has no gain, getting a antenna with some gain might help a bit too.

[cg]

The fact that you would be replacing old coax with new is good, eliminating several connections is good, and upgrading to LMR400 (don't get the knock off stuff) good also.
I use the weather channels for VHF, UHF I use several SCAT channel in the 451 range, 800MHz I use data channels for the various trunked systems. With the non voice data channels I make notes about static, strength, etc.
As far as the antenna height, it would be much more noticible if that got you over obstructions. Otherwise, it might clear up some static on a few channels.

[wmscanfan]

>> Also if its possible, look over your antenna for any damage that might hinder your getting more range

That was a good suggestion, just got up on the roof and found out that 3 of the downward pointing 'spikes' are missing, and one is hanging on by a thread - guess the years have given it a beating. So looks like a new discone (brand recommendation?) and new cable are in order.

[wmscanfan]

>>LMR400 (don't get the knock off stuff)

Is there a particular one (on amazon preferably) that is recommended?

[UPMan]

To see the relationship between antenna height and receive range, see this thread:

http://forums.radioreference.com/gen...i-receive.html

Of all the factors affecting range that you can control, antenna height is the most important.

[Rt169Radio]

Originally Posted by wmscanfan

>> Also if its possible, look over your antenna for any damage that might hinder your getting more range

That was a good suggestion, just got up on the roof and found out that 3 of the downward pointing 'spikes' are missing, and one is hanging on by a thread - guess the years have given it a beating. So looks like a new discone (brand recommendation?) and new cable are in order.

A Diamond D-130J or a Comet DS150S are good choices for discone antennas. But like I said discones have no gain, a antenna with some gain might help get more scanner range, although am not sure how much.

[W8RMH]

Originally Posted by wmscanfan

>>LMR400 (don't get the knock off stuff)

Is there a particular one (on amazon preferably) that is recommended?

Amazon.com: LMR-400 Times Microwave Coaxial Cable Kimberly Distribution HIGHLY RECOMMENDED