Drop In Signal Strength on Bradley Troop H Repeater

[adamfancher]

When I last had my rig set up in East Granby, I was pulling in a strong signal and capturing more or less a full data stream off of the Troop H repeater. This was toward the end of November.

Upon returning I found that while I can see a peak on the frequency, the signal is not strong enough to detect the P25 stream.

I am about 4 miles from Bradley and have tried multiple radios.

Not sure what may be causing this, but before I had access to troops A, B, C, F, H, I, L,W and was able to maintain the radio ID list for all of them. I now have access to absolutely nothing after months of work identifying talkgroups and radios.

I suppose I could get a stronger amplifier.

Has anyone else in the area noticed this dropoff in signal strength?

Is this common with the change in weather?

 

[Reconrider]

How close to you are you from the nearest site? Connecticut Land Mobile Radio Network (CLMRN) Trunking System, Statewide, Connecticut - Scanner Frequencies

 

[mmckenna]

Outdoor antenna? Did you properly waterproof the outside connections?

 

[Reconrider]

Outdoor antenna? Did you properly waterproof the outside connections?

Does PL400 count as "properly waterproofing" ?

Asking for a friend

 

[900mhz]

I am picking up troop H control channel 774.53125 MHz at -70 dBm here in northern Hamden. Just heard dispatchs for Troops L, I, C and Bloomfield PD come through.

 

[adamfancher]

How close to you are you from the nearest site? Connecticut Land Mobile Radio Network (CLMRN) Trunking System, Statewide, Connecticut - Scanner Frequencies

4 miles the way the crow flies from the site at Bradley Airport.

 

[adamfancher]

Outdoor antenna? Did you properly waterproof the outside connections?

Indoor, no changes to antenna placement between full functionality and signal strength dropoff

 

[adamfancher]

I am picking up troop H control channel 774.53125 MHz at -70 dBm here in northern Hamden. Just heard dispatchs for Troops L, I, C and Bloomfield PD come through.

Thanks for confirming.

 

[adamfancher]

As it turns out, a flaky USB connection can sometimes cause a USB 2.0 hub to continue to sort-of function, only as a USB 1.0 device as far as windows is concerned (you may be familiar with the "This device can perform faster if connected to a USB 2.0 port" error when you know damn well it already is).

Unplugged the USB hub and plugged it back in until it was properly recognized as 2.0 again and away I went, fantastic signal strength, waveform on spectrum analyzer looks nice and narrow.

In USB 1.0 mode, my RTL-SDR understandably couldn't keep up and when I finally turned off the squelch I realized the audio was in bursts.

Crisis averted, thanks to all those that chimed in.

 

[900mhz]

Glad to hear!