Poor receiption

[imbruski]

May not be the right forum but I need local (Iowa) help. I'm using a R/S PRO-2053 with a PROCOMM spider antenna mounted on 15' pipe outside here in Radcliffe. VHF hiband is great with surrounding counties heard well, now the problem I hear almost nothing on 800 except after sunset and then just once and awhile on RACOM Wellsburg 1. Nothing from Ames or Marshalltown and just a bit from Carroll. Also not hearing anything from Story County's 800 system. Any ideas ?

 

[IowaGuy1603]

May not be the right forum but I need local (Iowa) help. I'm using a R/S PRO-2053 with a PROCOMM spider antenna mounted on 15' pipe outside here in Radcliffe. VHF hiband is great with surrounding counties heard well, now the problem I hear almost nothing on 800 except after sunset and then just once and awhile on RACOM Wellsburg 1. Nothing from Ames or Marshalltown and just a bit from Carroll. Also not hearing anything from Story County's 800 system. Any ideas ?

Go higher with your antenna.

 

[IowaBrian]

well I use a high gain tv antenna on the roof guessing 20 plus feet off the ground, RG6 and 2 amps since I have long cable runs. Now I know my system is not what I would call the norm, but as I have seen in the past, get some metal high in the sky and let it fly! Also have not fried any scanners doing this odd setup.

 

[timkilbride]

I don't think that antenna is really designed for 800. I know they advertise it for 800. I can hear story county from highway 20 in Hardin county on my mobile scanner. I use the Larsen tri-band 150/450/800 antenna. You do have some sort of problem. What coax are you using?

Tim K.

 

[SCPD]

Feed-line? Are you using RG-58? That stuff is lossy as a kitchen strainer at 800MHz. Use RG-6 QS you can probably get some from a cable TV installer for free or a sat guy, and then use F to BNC and F to UHF connectors. Don't try to solder connectors on it though because you can't, it will be a horrible connection. Yes, the adapters have some insertion loss, but way less than a poorly made connector. You might be able to find some SNS (Snap N Seal) BNC connectors at Menards, they have them in Cedar Rapids, but they wanted like $20 for 10 of them. No thanks!

The TV antenna suggestion is good, but remember to mount it tilted 90 degrees. The TV antenna is horizontally polarized, all the stuff you're listening to is vertically polarized. Having an antenna 90 degrees off polarization results in about a -20dB signal drop.

Height is also important, the higher the better. You should be able to get one of the cheap UHF only TV antennas and then run a separate line into your shack for that. Then just get an A/B antenna switch for VHF or UHF listening.

 

[imbruski]

Thanks for the help, I'm going to try the Larsen antenna and go another 12' higher and see what happens.

 

[timkilbride]

Thanks for the help, I'm going to try the Larsen antenna and go another 12' higher and see what happens.

If your going to use the antenna I mentioned, you will need a NMO to Base kit.

This is what I'm talking about:

NMO Type Base Station Mount Antenna VHF or UHF Whip - eBay (item 270375019701 end time Jun-09-10 14:04:25 PDT)

This one comes with an antenna(not the Larsen), I'm sure there are more out there that come with just the NMO Base Kit. The kit provides you will a ground plane. The kit will also allow ANY NMO style mount antenna to be used on it. I just one in my apartment attic, they do work well.

Tim K.

 

[timkilbride]

This is the Larsen antenna:

NMO Tri-Band - 150/450/800 Antenna