Amherst, NY Fire Channel 2

[5Rya]

Question for anyone who lives in or near Amherst, NY. Is anyone able to receive this channel clearly? I understand that the channel has no repeater and uses mobile units but today there was a call and I was about 3 miles away from the scene and the other day there was call where I was around 2 miles from the scene and my rooftop antenna (30 feet above ground) doesn't pick up these transmissions most of the time. I could see a back of set antenna not picking them up but I figured a rooftop antenna should be able to pick them up fine. Sometimes the scanner will pick up the signal and it shows it on 1 bar of signal so I am assuming it is just that the mobile units are just not putting up enough signal to be heard 2-3 miles away but wanted to ask you guys first in case you had any advice. Thanks

 

[Thunderknight]

Are you sure those were mobile units and not portable radios? If it's on scene traffic, it may very well be portable radios.
Also being UHF, your coax matters. What type of coax cable do you have from the antenna and how long is the run?

 

[5Rya]

Are you sure those were mobile units and not portable radios? If it's on scene traffic, it may very well be portable radios.
Also being UHF, your coax matters. What type of coax cable do you have from the antenna and how long is the run?

Sorry about that, I meant portable radios. I always get the two confused. As for the coax it is LMR-400 running 100 feet. I also have an adapter connecting the antenna to the LMR-400 and on the scanner end I have a 3 foot RG-58U cable connecting the LMR-400 to the scanner to prevent damage to the scanner's antenna port from the inflexible LMR400. The antenna is Diamond D130NJ and I would say it works good but for it being on the roof 30 feet up I would of thought I would be receiving a bit more then I am. Also it is probably not the antenna but I can never get a clear P25 signal. Buffalo Police is not that far away from me and it comes in very unclear. Also ESU for county comes in even worse.

 

[n4njj]

Sorry about that, I meant portable radios. I always get the two confused. As for the coax it is LMR-400 running 100 feet. I also have an adapter connecting the antenna to the LMR-400 and on the scanner end I have a 3 foot RG-58U cable connecting the LMR-400 to the scanner to prevent damage to the scanner's antenna port from the inflexible LMR400. The antenna is Diamond D130NJ and I would say it works good but for it being on the roof 30 feet up I would of thought I would be receiving a bit more then I am. Also it is probably not the antenna but I can never get a clear P25 signal. Buffalo Police is not that far away from me and it comes in very unclear. Also ESU for county comes in even worse.

Sounds like your coax length might be the problem. 100' is a long run with adapters and jumpers. As for the P25, where are you located? I had no problem picking P25 from Buffalo PD or any of the federal stuff on my APX this past summer when I was in town. And that was with the stock antenna.

 

[5Rya]

Sounds like your coax length might be the problem. 100' is a long run with adapters and jumpers. As for the P25, where are you located? I had no problem picking P25 from Buffalo PD or any of the federal stuff on my APX this past summer when I was in town. And that was with the stock antenna.

Thats giving me some hope as I was running out of solutions. For where I am located I attached a screenshot of google maps and highlighted an intersection (Sheridan and Youngs) that is pretty close to my house giving you a approximation of where I live. Were you about that distance or closer or farther when you were able to pick up Buffalo PD?

 

[ak716]

You should be able to get them no problem there. In the southtowns you can get them pretty good. I have trouble with my SDR getting them.... but I have a poor antenna for it. They all
work fine on a XTS1500 (ECSO, ESU and BPD) with the stock, short antenna basically all throughout the area.

 

[5Rya]

You should be able to get them no problem there. In the southtowns you can get them pretty good. I have trouble with my SDR getting them.... but I have a poor antenna for it. They all
work fine on a XTS1500 (ECSO, ESU and BPD) with the stock, short antenna basically all throughout the area.

Well that gives me a lot more hope. I will have to check the coax cable more this weekend. When firefighters are on scene on their portables with no repeater how far does that signal travel? Is it one of those things where you will only be able to hear the conversation if you go to the scene or does it have enough power to travel 1-3 miles to my house?

 

[ak716]

Depends.... I know ours, going portable to portable..... maybe a mile, unobstructed .... from the dispatch tower, which was like 75 feet, spotty..., depended on the terrain.... 3-4 miles ish....... and that's hearing a portable, not in a building, out in the open... mobiles you'll be good for a while. I know the mobiles on simplex can go from south buffalo to the stadium area.

But this is all generally speaking..... I've herd portables on a simplex, listening from that same antenna mounted about 75 feet up from atleast 8 miles away. But those firefighters were on a roof, on a somewhat higher point of that town

 

[ZapBugs]

The short RG58 by itself will not make the difference between hearing them or not. Assuming that the cable is not defective. An easier thing ti do is use two right angle adapters instead. That gives 360deg swiveling flex to the LMR100