Continued Charmeck reception problems

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bonus1331

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Been in Charlotte 4 years and have had reception issues since living here. Lived, up until 3 weeks ago, in Union County about 4 miles from the Meck county line around Lawyers Road. Just moved into a new house about 1 mile from the Meck county line near Idlewild Rd.
There are certain frequencies on the Charmeck TRS that just don't come in well at all at any time, with any antenna. I have about 15 rubber ducks and a Scantenna that I had on the roof of the old house and in the attic in the new house.
A couple of frequencies that always come in scratchy are 858.9875 and 860. 4875.
Maybe I need a clearer understanding of this TRS. I have the South site control frequencies programmed into my radios. I see that the TRS has 4 antennas. I always assumed that with a MOTO TRS that the voice channels were not dependent on a certain site antenna. But if that were the case, why would I only have poor reception on certain voice frequencies?
I always assumed, for example that when 858.9875 was being used that it could be transmitting on any of the sites. Am I wrong?
Don't understand why I would be within a mile of the county border that I am not receiving all voice frequencies at 100%.
As a side comment. I thought I had read that the TRS was adding another site on the East part of the County. Any truth to this?
When I take any of my radios in the car and get out a couple of miles from the house going into Charlotte, all voice transmissions come in clearly with most of my ducks.
Ideas??
What are you guys using for a base antenna.
I am watching a couple of 800 Mhz yagis on Ebay, but am wondering with the directionality of these antennas if I would just run into bigger issues getting clear reception from all TRS sites.
Thanks
 

kg4pbd

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I've had the same problem when I'm at work, near Monroe & Sardis, on the same frequencies you mentioned. I think it's a nearby cell tower that's the culprit.

I can have a radio on in the office and my stream from home up on the computer, talkgroups on those frequencies on my 396 get buried while I can hear it fine from home. The radio on the stream at home has a yagi pointed at the same Mathews tower I'm listening to at work so I don't think it has anything to do with the tower.
 

twhitson

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From what I understand, much like a cell system the towers are throughout the county, and the channels are assigned to each talkgroup taking into consideration which geographical area the units are in. Therefore, if in Monroe, you wouldn't necessarily hear the towers located physically in the North or South end of the county. I am not sure which frequencies are assigned to each site, but I believe that may be your problem.
 

kg4pbd

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FYI, I checked it here today, the frequencies I have problems with are 856.2375 & 858.9875. I haven't noticed it on 860.4875.

I would imagine that where you are you're hearing the Mathews tower, same as I am.

Here's a link to an old thread that included some discussion on a proposed 28ch site at Albemarle & Flowes Store Rd:

http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49043

Here's another thread where we discussing the problem with individual frequencies:

http://radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48783

I still think a cell site is the problem.
 

bonus1331

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If I we are receiving all frequencies from 1 site, then I would assume that all frequencies would be received at the same signal level. Then again, I could be talking out of my.....hat.

If all voice frequencies are being received from Matthews, I should be receiving at 100%. My mailing address IS Matthews!

Are you using a base antenna?
 

kg4pbd

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As I understand, the cell sites can cause desense in the receiver. The result makes that particular frequency sound like it's in the hash. I'm not sure why one frequency over another would be affected. When I first noticed this same problem awhile ago I figured that the tx's for those frequencies didn't work or didn't work well on the Mathews tower. I was led to believe that probably wasn't the problem.

In theory it does seem that all frequencies would have equal signal strength from the same tower but I routinely see fluctuations in that so who knows.....someone smarter than me!

As far as antennas, at home I have a yagi pointed directly at the Mathews tower, distance is about 10 miles. I've tried aiming at the tower up on Park Rd & Fairview but I seem to get a better signal off the Mathews tower. Where I live I have poor reception on anything other than that yagi. My 396 with the RS duck works ok but not great.

Here at work I can almost listen without an antenna, I'm just down the street about a mile or so from the Mathews tower. I have tried using attenuation here and it actually did help with what you are describing.

As a test, you can try listening to my Eazystream feed, charmecktrs.no-ip.org. That's a BC15 on that yagi pointed at the Mathews tower. You'll hear those same frequencies loud and clear.
 
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kg4pbd

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Here's a picture of the antenna David, I looked around a bit but I can't find it online now.
 

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NewsPhoto

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I just installed a Maxrad trunk mount 800mhz antenna and still get static at Monroe rd and Sharon Amity/ Conference and Independence/ 51 and Monroe rd, but I get better distance out to exit 70 on 85 south.
 
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