I was driving today down to town garage to dump off old TV set in the electronic recycle bin....it's about a mile away. I noticed across the street at the skate rink is a big cell tower. Never noticed it before, but I usually don't drive in that area. I looked on map and traced a path from my house to the tower....see pictures.
I am wondering if being this close to a cell tower could cause reception problems on 800 mhz freqs. Since there are so many variables that affect 800 mhz reception, it is hard to pin point but what would symptoms of cell tower proximity be? I measured the distance and it's about 1 miles. Terrain and elevation roughly the same at tower and my house. How can you tell if desense or simulcast distortion is the problem? I would like to figure out how to use the feature on my scanners (bcd996p2 & sds200) to "see" whats happening on adjacent frequencies. Not sure if there are other antennas/services that use that tower. I can go over and get pretty close to it and get a more detailed look at the antennas. I know this topic has been beaten to death and the usual response is "get a G5".....but I have plenty of time to trouble shoot. And I'd be interested in narrowing down the issue(s) for a little improvement in reception. There are a few things to consider that create bad reception....could be distance from system you are listening to, either P25 or trunked motorola, your antenna, your location, radio....its a lot of variables. So how can you tell if it's simulcast distortion or desense from a cell tower? Or could be both! Well just a thought because I didnt know I was this close to a cell tower and even tho I have an sds radio I still have a little distortion problem. Nowhere near what my 996 has. So I am just wondering if cell tower may factor in.
I am wondering if being this close to a cell tower could cause reception problems on 800 mhz freqs. Since there are so many variables that affect 800 mhz reception, it is hard to pin point but what would symptoms of cell tower proximity be? I measured the distance and it's about 1 miles. Terrain and elevation roughly the same at tower and my house. How can you tell if desense or simulcast distortion is the problem? I would like to figure out how to use the feature on my scanners (bcd996p2 & sds200) to "see" whats happening on adjacent frequencies. Not sure if there are other antennas/services that use that tower. I can go over and get pretty close to it and get a more detailed look at the antennas. I know this topic has been beaten to death and the usual response is "get a G5".....but I have plenty of time to trouble shoot. And I'd be interested in narrowing down the issue(s) for a little improvement in reception. There are a few things to consider that create bad reception....could be distance from system you are listening to, either P25 or trunked motorola, your antenna, your location, radio....its a lot of variables. So how can you tell if it's simulcast distortion or desense from a cell tower? Or could be both! Well just a thought because I didnt know I was this close to a cell tower and even tho I have an sds radio I still have a little distortion problem. Nowhere near what my 996 has. So I am just wondering if cell tower may factor in.