Maybe an exterior car antenna will help?

[Navycop]

As I drive through town on side roads my PRO-95 works okay. When I get to the center of town (telephone lines, street lights, stop lights) it is hard to hear the calls. I get a lot of static and breaking up. I mounted the scanner to the vent like in an earlier post. I was thinking a bi-directional 800mhz scanner would help. What gets me, is the dispatch station is only a couple blocks from the center of town. The signal should be real strong.

 

[fineshot1]

As I drive through town on side roads my PRO-95 works okay. When I get to the center of town (telephone lines, street lights, stop lights) it is hard to hear the calls. I get a lot of static and breaking up. I mounted the scanner to the vent like in an earlier post. I was thinking a bi-directional 800mhz scanner would help. What gets me, is the dispatch station is only a couple blocks from the center of town. The signal should be real strong.

Ok, I'll be the first to ask - what is a "bi-directional 800mhz scanner" ?

and - just cause the dispatch center is near the center of town does not mean that
that is where the transmitter location is. Dispatch locations ca be located far away
from the transmitter locations. Audio can be carried to the transmitter via a variety
of methods such as T1, dedicated circuit, microwave link and even an RF link.

 

[iMONITOR]

What gets me, is the dispatch station is only a couple blocks from the center of town. The signal should be real strong.

Is the actual transmitter located at the dispatch center? Sometimes they are at a remote location.

 

[Navycop]

Ok, I'll be the first to ask - what is a "bi-directional 800mhz scanner" ?/QUOTE]

OK. I just thought there was an antenna that recieved signals from all sides. Maybe that is what an antenna does? I guess the problem is the 800mhz antenna is not in a line of sight with the transmitter.

 

[N8IAA]

As I drive through town on side roads my PRO-95 works okay. When I get to the center of town (telephone lines, street lights, stop lights) it is hard to hear the calls. I get a lot of static and breaking up. I mounted the scanner to the vent like in an earlier post. I was thinking a bi-directional 800mhz scanner would help. What gets me, is the dispatch station is only a couple blocks from the center of town. The signal should be real strong.

The fact that you are driving into an area with buildings, is the reason that the signal might be harder for the scanner to hear. 800Mhz signals are line-of-sight, meaning that if there is nothing in the path of the signal, it has a greater chance of being heard. Buildings absorb 800Mhz signals. Electrical noise also has an effect on the front end of a receiver. It can degrade the signal, too. Where your scanner is mounted in your car has an antennuating effect on it (being surrounded by metal). As stated before, the tower is probably not anywhere near the dispatch station.
Larry

 

[Navycop]

The fact that you are driving into an area with buildings, is the reason that the signal might be harder for the scanner to hear. 800Mhz signals are line-of-sight, meaning that if there is nothing in the path of the signal, it has a greater chance of being heard.

I guess my question is: How can the police cars, zone cars and fire apparatus hear dispatch clearly? I need an antenna like they have.

 

[fineshot1]

I guess my question is: How can the police cars, zone cars and fire apparatus hear dispatch clearly? I need an antenna like they have.

They are using a commercial grade radio designed for a single band and a commercial grade antenna so its performance is going to be far better than a scanner and ducky designed for many bands. You are comparing apples to oranges.

 

[crazyboy]

Drill hole in roof, put 800mhz 1/4 wave or low profile antenna on it. Trust me no more static.

 

[scanfan03]

You could try the att on the scanner first.

 

[smokeyjones666]

Drill hole in roof, put 800mhz 1/4 wave or low profile antenna on it. Trust me no more static.

What he said. Seriously, spend a week reading through old threads in the antenna forum and see what people have used in the past. Myself, I drilled a hole in my trunk lid, put in an NMO mount, and screwed on a Larsen 150/450/800. Other folks prefer antennas meant for just the 800MHz band. Some people don't like making swiss cheese out of their cars and use mag mounts, trunk lip mounts, crazy brackets and whatnot.

Instead of bi-directional, I think the word you were looking for was 'omnidirectional', which pretty much means it receives equally well on all sides. That's okay - if you're just getting into this, the lingo can be a little confusing at times.

Also, check the Install forum and you can see first hand what some of this stuff looks like on other people's vehicles. Remember to use the search function, the search is your difficult but always predictable friend.

 

[slicerwizard]

When I get to the center of town (telephone lines, street lights, stop lights) it is hard to hear the calls. I get a lot of static and breaking up.

Um, any cell sites around there?

 

[Signal3and2]

You are referring to an "omni-directional" antenna, not a "bi-directional". Any standard antenna that you would be thinking about, whether it be magnet or permanent mount, is omni directional.

 

[scanfan03]

Like I said before, you might want to try the ATT first because the front end on the scanner could just be overloaded which would make it worse with an 800MHz antenna.