Scanner question

[photogtony]

I have a Pro-97 that I use at home and at work (news agency.) The scanner works fine at home but is very quiet at work. There are at least three other scanners at our office. Are they causing interference? And is there a way to fix it?

 

[leonzo]

Do the other 3 scanners at work still pick up radio traffic? If its only your scanner at work not picking up try mopving your scanner further away from the others. If none of the scanners at work pick up much it just may be too much interference or your location is too shielded or there may be other radio transmitters too close by.

 

[Stick0413]

I have a Pro-97 that I use at home and at work (news agency.) The scanner works fine at home but is very quiet at work. There are at least three other scanners at our office. Are they causing interference? And is there a way to fix it?

Are the other scanners also Pro-97s (or other non digital)? Also where are you located at? If you are in the Richmond area there isn't all that much on the public safety side that you could pick up with the 97 (besides Hanover and a few of the outlying counties that are not all that active.)

 

[fmon]

I notice from the "Roll Call" forum you are in Charlottesville so you must be scanning conventional frequencies. Try attenuating the scanned frequencies, you may be getting too much front end loading.

 

[photogtony]

The other three scanners are fairly active and one of them is a digital. But yes I sit at a desk close to them to be in contact with the assignment editor. But the other three are sitting right by each other and don't seem to have any problems. I think they are Uniden.

I'm in C'ville and most of the surrounding county agencies are still not digital besides the Ablemarle Sheriff.

 

[trafficdan]

Are you using inside antennas? Are the radios work uses on outside antennas? That seemed to effect my reception in different offices I worked in.

 

[tglendye]

...
I'm in C'ville and most of the surrounding county agencies are still not digital besides the Ablemarle Sheriff.

Specifically, what agencies/ Counties are you trying to monitor? Charlottesville/ Albemarle use a digital TRS that the Pro97 will not work on (since it's digital). I think the only non-digital portion of this system is the regional jail.

There still is vhf paging for city and county fire (it's either 46.46 or 46.26- it changed once, but I think it's changed back). The hand held scanners typically do not perform well on vhf-low frequencies, with stock antennas, unless you are close.

I would think you could hear traffic by Greene, Louisa and state police (for now).

 

[gcgrotz]

Tony:

Have you tried state police on 159.135? They transmit from Bear Den Mt which is just north of afton along Skyline Drive. You can see all of the towers up there as you drive west near Crozet. Also up there but at a lower power level is the stream flow data repeater (IFLOWS) on 171.900. You should be able to hear that fairly well in town. Also the ham repeater on 147.075 is there. Another good beacon is the weather on 162.450 from Fan Mountain because it is kinda weak in town in spots.

If you still think it is a scanner problem, send me a PM. If you can get out at lunch or sometime I will meet you at one of my cell sites in town and we can slap it on the service monitor to check sensitivity.

 

[photogtony]

There are four scanners at our office. Two of them are old base type Radio Shacks with outside antennas, and two of them are newer portable Unidens with inside antennas. There is constant chatter on all of them and they sit next to each other on the same counter. My Pro-97 picks up central Virginia counties fine at home (Nelson, Greene, Madison, Augusta, Fluvanna, Orange, etc.) but when I bring it in to work it goes silent. Would attenuating help as another member suggested or should I sit further away from the other scanners? (I sit fairly close to them.)

 

[tglendye]

I assume the Uniden's in your office are set up to the Charlottesville/ Albemarle trunked radio system. The link to the information for this system is here: http://www.radioreference.com/modules.php?name=RR&sid=2081 . According to the database, the only analog talk groups are for the regional jail. The Pro-97 scanner does not decode digital signals, so you'll only be able to pick up the analog talk groups on the city and county TRS.

I don't know where your office is. If it's in a heavy building (cinder block, etc.) and on a basement level, that would effect the reception- especially with surrounding counties. I know from experience while in downtown Charlottesville with a mobile antenna, that I haven't been able to receive Rockingham County across the mountain, but I can't remember about Augusta. Greene Sheriff has a strong signal and I think the others are decent as well, so I would think you'd receive something. I wouldn't think the other scanners would interfere too much, but computers may.

Check the database and make sure you have the correct conventional frequencies for the city and county. I don't think much are in use anymore since they have migrated to the TRS, but I think they still simulcast on either 46.26 or 46.46 for fire & rescue.

 

[richrowl]

PRO-97 reception

There are four scanners at our office. Two of them are old base type Radio Shacks with outside antennas, and two of them are newer portable Unidens with inside antennas. There is constant chatter on all of them and they sit next to each other on the same counter. My Pro-97 picks up central Virginia counties fine at home (Nelson, Greene, Madison, Augusta, Fluvanna, Orange, etc.) but when I bring it in to work it goes silent. Would attenuating help as another member suggested or should I sit further away from the other scanners? (I sit fairly close to them.)

I have a 2055 in the mobile (mobile version of 97) and experienced almost total mute with a base loaded antenna on the center trunk lid compared to the 97 with rubby duckie. I experimented with the 97 rubber duck putting it on the 2055 mounted under the dash and was amazed at the reception I was getting even with the duck under the dash. I changed some antennas and cabling and currently use a 1/4 wave VHF whip which is performing 100% better. Perhaps the antenna or antennas you use may be overloading the 97 scanner. Try the rubber duck and just walk around the office or the building and see if you get reception.

 

[gcgrotz]

One other thought photogtony, if you are downtown where I think you are, there is a big honkin' paging transmitter on 158.700 on top of Martha Jefferson Hosp that trashes stuff all around. Of course you could be out on Rio Rd???

Also, try sitting your scanner where the other portable is, or swap places with it, maybe you sit in a dead zone. Turning off other scanners won't make any difference at a distance of a couple feet or more. I have 2 or 3 going on the front seat most of the time.

Local fire is dispatching city and county on 46.46, rescue on 155.835. Both are pretty strong downtown from Carter's Mtn. Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson are kinda weak in town in a commercial building on a portable, not bad in a house type building though. Augusta is pretty much no copy. Orange is ok in the mobile with mag mount ham antenna around town.

 

[SkipSanders]

To seperate some things, the other scanners are not the problem. They just help you determine that some things can be received in that office.

Your problem is either that you're listening to something that doesn't penetrate into the building (most are pretty well shielded against anything but 800 MHz, and low band is usually near totally shielded out), may be weak due to distance being further from your home, or, there are one or more local transmitters (likely in a news operation!) that are desensing (making the front end shut down to zero gain) your scanner by overloading it.

If you can identify a local transmitter that's overloading your front end, you could try aquiring a filter to remove some of its signal. Might be a local FM broadcast station around, those are WELL known to desense scanners for miles around them, and further than that for scanners with outside antennas.