Ok, I was playing around with a faint UHF Motorola system today, and I got some weird results.
Here's my setup:
Scantenna about 30ft on a pole outside, connected to a patch panel next to my scanners with LMR-400 cable.
BCD996T scanner, BCT8 scanner... mounted a few inches apart. I tapped the discriminator on the 996T and that's what I use for Unitrunker. (I also tapped the BCT8, but it's reception is just plain inferior to the 996T, plain and simple.)
Ok, here's the weird part:
With just the antenna coming straight to the 996T, I get a lot of static on the control channel and Unitrunker reports very poor reception.. it fluctuates from maybe 5% to 30%.
But if I put one of those BNC Tee's at the patch panel, then run a short patch from it to the 996T and ALSO to the BCT8, then the signal strength jumps up to 70% - 99%... the control channel also gets very clear.
Now, the BCT8 has to stay OFF for the most consistent signal. If I turn it on and play around with it, then the signal on Unitrunker (from the tap coming from the 996T) may fluctuate wildly.
In any case, I can't seem to monitor that faint UHF system unless I have the scantenna tee'd off at the patch panel.
Can anyone explain to me what's going on here? I figured the "tee to the second scanner" thing would cause interference, NOT improve the reception.
Thanks for any info!
Here's my setup:
Scantenna about 30ft on a pole outside, connected to a patch panel next to my scanners with LMR-400 cable.
BCD996T scanner, BCT8 scanner... mounted a few inches apart. I tapped the discriminator on the 996T and that's what I use for Unitrunker. (I also tapped the BCT8, but it's reception is just plain inferior to the 996T, plain and simple.)
Ok, here's the weird part:
With just the antenna coming straight to the 996T, I get a lot of static on the control channel and Unitrunker reports very poor reception.. it fluctuates from maybe 5% to 30%.
But if I put one of those BNC Tee's at the patch panel, then run a short patch from it to the 996T and ALSO to the BCT8, then the signal strength jumps up to 70% - 99%... the control channel also gets very clear.
Now, the BCT8 has to stay OFF for the most consistent signal. If I turn it on and play around with it, then the signal on Unitrunker (from the tap coming from the 996T) may fluctuate wildly.
In any case, I can't seem to monitor that faint UHF system unless I have the scantenna tee'd off at the patch panel.
Can anyone explain to me what's going on here? I figured the "tee to the second scanner" thing would cause interference, NOT improve the reception.
Thanks for any info!