800MHz Yagi - Signal 50 miles away

[fredg]

Anybody venture a guess if this antenna would have a chance of pulling in a 800MHz analog trunked signal 50 miles away?

Wilson Mini Yagi 800-900 MHz Cellular Antenna 301129

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Yagi-800-9...eZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

 

[Don_Burke]

Anybody venture a guess if this antenna would have a chance of pulling in a 800MHz analog trunked signal 50 miles away?

Wilson Mini Yagi 800-900 MHz Cellular Antenna 301129

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mini-Yagi-800-9...eZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

How high is the transmitting antenna and how high will you be mounting the Yagi?

Are there any obstructions in the path?

 

[fredg]

No clue as to the transmiting antenna, I would mount it about 25 feet. I am in the country, some rolling hills, not sure of other obstructions.

 

[Don_Burke]

No clue as to the transmiting antenna, I would mount it about 25 feet. I am in the country, some rolling hills, not sure of other obstructions.

With 25 feet at your end, the transmitting antenna would need to be over 900 feet over flat terrain to get line of sight.

...and you have hills.

Since trunking systems rarely if ever have that kind of height, I would say you are not going to get there from here on a regular basis. You might get a lucky bounce from time to time.

 

[fredg]

Thanks, I had asked a smilliar question about a week ago about some other antennas. As I said in that thread, I will just be content to listen online.

 

[N_Jay]

Thanks, I had asked a smilliar question about a week ago about some other antennas. As I said in that thread, I will just be content to listen online.

If you get it with an omni and it is noisy, then a big yagi might get you out of the noise.
If you don't get it with an omni, then there is probably no antenna that will get it acceptably.

 

[fredg]

If you get it with an omni and it is noisy, then a big yagi might get you out of the noise.
If you don't get it with an omni, then there is probably no antenna that will get it acceptably.

I don't know if that is an "official" rule of thumb, but it sure sounds like one! That really settles it in my mind so I don't waste my time trying for something that will never happen.

 

[dirtfinder]

I had the same Yagi up 30' with lmr 400 coax and was able to pull in 800mhz site from 150 mile on a good night now for every day use it was around the 60 to 65 mile range. I am though on top of a hill with nothing in between me and the towers. I would give it 5 star rating.

 

[trooperdude]

I had the same Yagi up 30' with lmr 400 coax and was able to pull in 800mhz site from 150 mile on a good night now for every day use it was around the 60 to 65 mile range. I am though on top of a hill with nothing in between me and the towers. I would give it 5 star rating.

And how high was the 800mhz system transmitting antenna ?

 

[k9rzz]

It would be tricky to get 24/7 perfect copy at that distance, but with a good antenna and feedline, I bet you could listen to them most of the time. Heck, hams work 100's of miles on 1296 mhz. 50 miles? It's pushing it, but you could do it with the right hardware.

 

[fredg]

Yeah, I am not sure the "thrill" of picking them up weakly sometimes is worth the effort. Sure it is neat to get a distant station but that's wears off quickly.

I have a city about 35 miles away that I can sometimes pick up weakly now with my omni antenna. They are pretty active and on 460 MHz so I think I will work on building an Yagi and see if I can pull them in cleaner.