MOSWIN Control channel vs Voice Channel reception question...

stlouisx50

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Jul 28, 2006
Messages
737
Location
Mountain Grove, MO (Texas County)
I have noticed no matter where I am in the state that the Voice channel always seems to be stronger than the voice control channels. Is there a wattage difference? I show the data channel pegging me at 4-5 bars, but the voice channels are at 0-2 bars.
 

stlouisx50

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Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
737
Location
Mountain Grove, MO (Texas County)
What make & model scanner are you using? You wouldn't happen to be listening to a simulcast group of cells would you?
No simulcast here in Texas/Wright counties.

Using the Pro668. Id love to upgrade, but with E being more common I'll use it while i can.

I am using a J-Pole outside which I noticed the T kept flashing instead of staying steady on some towers, I turned the antenna and would get a constant T light. Unfortunately I'm still not happy with the reception, but notice even with the steady T light on the control channel, the voice channels are a lot lower powered for some reason.
 

hitechRadio

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Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
538
The sites either 700 or VHF are balanced thru the combiner to the output.
So,,,my guess is your antenna has a narrow bandwidth. And overall your antenna is at fault. I assume the J-Pole is VHF only?
You would likely find that wide band antenna like a discone would be more balanced across the wide bandwidth that MOSWIN especially VHF site's use. They can go from 150's all the way to the 170's.
 
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stlouisx50

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
737
Location
Mountain Grove, MO (Texas County)
The sites either 700 or VHF are balanced thru the combiner to the output.
So,,,my guess is your antenna has a narrow bandwidth. And overall your antenna is at fault. I assume the J-Pole is VHF only?
You would likely find that wide band antenna like a discone would be more balanced across the wide bandwidth that MOSWIN especially VHF site's use. They can go from 150's all the way to the 170's.

I'll try to cut the pipe tune it for the lowest Moswin vhf freq and the Highest vhf freq I think it was cut for 155.070, so trimming it a touch might help.
 

talkpair

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Apr 27, 2009
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976
Location
Clinton County, MO
It seems like I remember reading something a while back about the power being reduced on VHF frequencies that were borrowed from the Feds. (mostly 169 and 170 MHz)
It could be possible that it's not a control channel vs voice channel issue, but more of issue of being either a Part 90 frequency vs a borrowed Fed frequency.

This shouldn't be an issue with 700 MHz however.
 

nd5y

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Dec 19, 2002
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11,281
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Wichita Falls, TX
The difference between 50 and 100 W is only 3 dB.
The difference between S-meter bars on a scanner is probably more like at least 10 dB and you don't know if that's the same over the whole frequency range of the scanner or how or if it was calibrated at the factory.
Throw in using a narrowband antenna like a J-pole and the number of bars is meaningless unless you are looking at two different stations on or near the same frequency at roughly the same time.
 

scannerowner

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Aug 4, 2008
Messages
1,075
Location
NW Missouri
I've noticed it too depending on the frequency. My Uniden scanners show dat/lnk a lot, rather than staying solid on Dat when holding on a talkgroup like 700/800 usually does. Could it be RFI to nearby paging transmitters or other frequencies? It seems they share frequencies a lot.
 
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