Base scanner antenna problems

[fordman2006]

I have a realistic pro2040 scanner and an 20-176 radio Shack antenna mounted 20 ft above my house. I listen to the 150 mhz for fire departments and to 860 mhz for Tmr radio. I've had this setup for over 10 years, this is the 3rd house I set it up at. Since I set it up at this house about a month ago it worked good when it'sbelow free zing outside, when it gets above freezing I start to get a lot of interference on the 800mhz, I still get the vhf frequencies perfect! I get a fire department pages as far as 60 miles no problem but the Tmr I get so scratchy I can hardly hear them. I monitor 3 Tmr towers, 2 of them about 10 miles each way from me and the third one about 25 miles with is scratchy when the 2 others are perfect so I lose that one as soon as the temperature rises. For coax I had 70ft of rg6 rated for 3 ghz from the satellite company so I figured it was that so I bought 70ft good grade rg8x which I installed and it works the exact same way, might even be a bit worse cause it below freezing now and it hasn't cleared up the signal as much as it used to. At the 2 other house I had about 45 ft of rg6 and it worked great for years. The only other thing is I took down my antenna the other day and noticed the plastic on top where u screw in the top part of the antenna was chipped a bit so I unscrewed it and the o ring was broken so I figured that was the problem so I got a new o ring and put a bit of kind of duck seal on the Crack so the water won't get in and that didn't fix it! I did that the same day that I changed the coax and that day was above freezing and it didn't help at all but like I said today is colder but it didn't clear out the signal like it used to. So I'm in the process of buying a new antenna cause I figure the water and humidity got in that one. Let me know what u think, I'm running out of ideas here, If a new antenna doesn't fix it I might have to move the Antenna closer so I don't have 70ft of coax. The Antenna I'm looking at is the Workman t734.

 

[pinballwiz86]

You don't need to buy a new antenna. Just get some new coax. You probably got moisture in there somehow. Get some coax sealant. I like "coax seal" tape, and its cheap.

For 800mhz and a 70 foot run...you might want to get better coax as you'll be getting an attenuated signal there. LMR400/400 Max type of coax should do the trick.


Good luck!

 

[fordman2006]

I'veg ot a buddy who's gonna lend me a new antenna to try and if that doesn't work I think I'm gonna put a new mast on the other side of the house so it will only be 30 to 40 ft run because where the antenna is now I have a wind gauge and weather center in the mast as well so I can't move that one. I keep hoping the new antenna will fix it because the old one is cracked so I think it's full of moisture even after I fixed the o ring and sealed the Crack! At least if I put up a new mast I can use the new rg8x and just cut it to the length I need.

 

[lost_in_maine]

I'veg ot a buddy who's gonna lend me a new antenna to try and if that doesn't work I think I'm gonna put a new mast on the other side of the house so it will only be 30 to 40 ft run because where the antenna is now I have a wind gauge and weather center in the mast as well so I can't move that one. I keep hoping the new antenna will fix it because the old one is cracked so I think it's full of moisture even after I fixed the o ring and sealed the Crack! At least if I put up a new mast I can use the new rg8x and just cut it to the length I need.

The jacket of the coax could also be full of water....I'd replace that while I'm on the roof

 

[fordman2006]

I replaced the coax the same day as I fixed the antenna and I had put that coax seal tape on the connection so I hope it's good! Whenever it warms up I want to try my buddy's antenna to see because for the past 2 days it's been - 7 degrees Celsius and this morning I'm listening to all the Tmr traffic on all the 3 towers, everything comes in great but Sunday it's giving plus 5 and then the 800mhz will get all staticky. It's puzzling lol

 

[fordman2006]

Also another thing that's weird, each tower around here has 4 channels or frequencies. My scanner is not a trunk tracking so I program 3 frequencies because the 4th one is the control channel and when they talk one chanel can be crystal clear and the next chanel which is on the same tower can have all kinds of interference or be staticky. I find it weird that 2 channels on the same tower can be that clear and the other one staticky all at the same time. Also about a mile from me there's 2 towers, one is 850mhz Bell mobility and the other is 2100mhz Eastlink mobility but there is no Tmr channels in those but I don't know if that would be causing some interference on some frequencies? The 2100mhz only came online a few weeks ago and I've been having problems for a few months so I know it's not that one. Where I used to live there was a bell mobility tower a mile from me with a Tmr site in it and never cause interference in that one or the other 2 towers I was monitoring, now I live 8 miles from there and I'm still monitoring the same 3 towers as when I lived there and I know I get them cause when it's cold I receive all 3 of them.

 

[fordman2006]

So 2 days ago I tried my buddy's antenna, it's a brand new Workman t734 so I put it up and went in the house and I get all 3 towers, 2 are crystal clear and the furthest one is not as clear bur u can understand what they say no problem. So yesterday it got up to plus 5 Celsius and everything still worked great so I bought the antenna from him and left it on the mast! On vhf bands I get the pager checks of fire departments 60 miles away and there quite clear. I hope that solves it and it works like this for a few years to come anyway.