I've been an avid scanner listener for many years, but took a break from the hobby for several years. I recently pulled all my scanners out and set everything back up and, while I don't have a "great" antenna solution, what I have should be fine for the local scanning I'm doing and, for the most part, it is.
With one exception - Pittsburgh Fire 2 (Old channel 6). Every other city (And for the most part Allegheny County) frequency comes in loud and clear, but Fire 2 always comes in like I was trying to pick up something in Beaver County from my house. The signal is steady - no intermod or fluttering. Just weak.
I also notice this in my car. The only time Fire 2 comes in clear is if I'm between the rivers. But the moment I'm up in Reserve Twp, or on the other side of Mt. Washington, it's weak.
So you have some context, I like in the Knoxville neighborhood, near the old Knoxville elementary school, my antenna is an (old but fully functional) Radio Shack Mag-Mount mobile scanner antenna on my 3rd floor air conditioner about 30-feet above the ground, on the East side of the house, connected to a Stridsberg 8-port active multicoupler. (And yes, I tried it without the multicoupler and it's just as bad)
I know the city has three transmitter sites - one on Mt. Washington up on the water tanks at Grandview Park, one on the tower at the Reservoir off of Aldalade St, and the Third over on the tower in the public works yard in the West End off of Hassler St.
Of those three, the only one I don't have LoS to is Aldalade St, and technically the West End site, but it's so close to being LoS that it shouldn't really matter. Could it be that they just aren't simulcasting Fire 2 to all three sites and only pushing it out from that one site?
Radio path plots:
Reservoir site: West End: and
Grandview Park: https://i.imgur.com/t2tzmMD.png
Thanks in advance for any info!
Andrew - K9LDT
With one exception - Pittsburgh Fire 2 (Old channel 6). Every other city (And for the most part Allegheny County) frequency comes in loud and clear, but Fire 2 always comes in like I was trying to pick up something in Beaver County from my house. The signal is steady - no intermod or fluttering. Just weak.
I also notice this in my car. The only time Fire 2 comes in clear is if I'm between the rivers. But the moment I'm up in Reserve Twp, or on the other side of Mt. Washington, it's weak.
So you have some context, I like in the Knoxville neighborhood, near the old Knoxville elementary school, my antenna is an (old but fully functional) Radio Shack Mag-Mount mobile scanner antenna on my 3rd floor air conditioner about 30-feet above the ground, on the East side of the house, connected to a Stridsberg 8-port active multicoupler. (And yes, I tried it without the multicoupler and it's just as bad)
I know the city has three transmitter sites - one on Mt. Washington up on the water tanks at Grandview Park, one on the tower at the Reservoir off of Aldalade St, and the Third over on the tower in the public works yard in the West End off of Hassler St.
Of those three, the only one I don't have LoS to is Aldalade St, and technically the West End site, but it's so close to being LoS that it shouldn't really matter. Could it be that they just aren't simulcasting Fire 2 to all three sites and only pushing it out from that one site?
Radio path plots:
Reservoir site: West End: and
Grandview Park: https://i.imgur.com/t2tzmMD.png
Thanks in advance for any info!
Andrew - K9LDT