Am I to far away.

[kb2rgz]

I live on the border of Franklinville and Williamstown in south Jersey. I am trying to pick up the Philadelphia Police P25 system. I have a Uniden SDS 200 Lmr-400 coax and a rooftop Discone antenna. antenna is not up all that high. I am hearing NJ State police etc. I created a favorites list with Phila with sentinal software and I have the three sites Subwat Simulcast 1 and 2 all services are checked to scan and downloaded to a fav list and I don't hear anything. Am I too far away?

 

[dlwtrunked]

I live on the border of Franklinville and Williamstown in south Jersey. I am trying to pick up the Philadelphia Police P25 system. I have a Uniden SDS 200 Lmr-400 coax and a rooftop Discone antenna. antenna is not up all that high. I am hearing NJ State police etc. I created a favorites list with Phila with sentinal software and I have the three sites Subwat Simulcast 1 and 2 all services are checked to scan and downloaded to a fav list and I don't hear anything. Am I too far away?

Too little information. "Not all high"--How high is it?...How high relative to the surround area is it? Finally, in by far the most cases, "Am I too far awy?" is the wrong question, the question should be "Is something in the way" and in some cases, the answer will be "Yes, the curvature of the earth." and in other cases, "Yes, a hill is blocking you." One needs to realize, if the signal was a satellite say 10 thousands of miles away, you would easily receive the signal.

 

[policefreak]

I know that area well and signal from Philadelphia trunked starts to have real difficulty from there with a SDS scanner or any receiver. 2 things to consider...are there a lot of trees to your NNW? And is there a cell tower within 1/3 mile of your location?

 

[trap5858]

The Philly system is set up to stay pretty tight to their borders, I am only 8 miles from the nearest border and unless I have some elevation I hear nothing even with a good external antenna.

 

[GTR8000]

20 miles away trying to receive 800 MHz with a sub-optimal all band discone antenna...yeah, you're probably too far away.

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

32 miles from southernmost repeater on system? Yeah I'd say so. Had they have stayed on UHF/VHF you'd bring them in no problem (I miss those days)

 

[joey123]

32 miles from southernmost repeater on system? Yeah I'd say so. Had they have stayed on UHF/VHF you'd bring them in no problem (I miss those days)
View attachment 139406

im in moorestown nj 4 min from the mooreston mall nj and i can hear the philly system 70 persent on clear days with no rain or no snow but other days on rainy days and fog its hard to hear

 

[kb2rgz]

I have the Comet DS-150S and it's about 6 ft above my single-story house.
I was considering a dish-style antenna at 40' They make them for cellular 700-800 mhz verry narrow 20 deg. and has a signal booster made for cell and wifi but could be used for a scanner antenna.

 

[policefreak]

I will say using a SDS100 I've heard Philly system on a normal clear day on Tuckahoe Road south of Malaga Road with a clear path back to the Northwest. I also consistently copy it in the area of Main and 40 near Newfield which has some wide open fields. But continuing north on Main past RLS logistics back in the trees it goes out pretty much back to Malaga and 322 near Walmart. These are all using a Wilson Electronics Cellular 800/900mhz antenna magmount antenna atop the roof of my vehicle. So at that distance it's really about how much space is around you. And here's another consideration that isn't so obvious. Monroe/Franklin Twp have some low-lying areas. There may be a rise in elevation back to the Northwest that blocks signal and you may be in a gradual drop-off.

 

[policefreak]

I have the Comet DS-150S and it's about 6 ft above my single-story house.
I was considering a dish-style antenna at 40' They make them for cellular 700-800 mhz verry narrow 20 deg. and has a signal booster made for cell and wifi but could be used for a scanner antenna.

Try it!

 

[kb2rgz]

I live right in that area and good to know. I think the first thing is to try getting the antenna up higher and then experiment.

 

[policefreak]

Also reminder the squelch must be set to 0 or you will get nothing.