Northern Palm Beach picking up Broward?

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McP

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I live in northern Palm Beach, almost Martin County. I have a Laird Omni Base 824-896 6db base antenna and a Radio Shack discone base antenna. When I lived in western Broward County, I was able to pick up PBSO and even Naples & Ft. Myers at night. The antenna(s) were mounted about 12 feet high on my on the side of my home using 50 feet of LMR-400 coax.

I realize there are different geographical, interference, etc issues in different places, but I'm curious if anyone is in northern Palm Beach, southern Martin county and able to pick up Broward Sheriff or other Broward agencies. If so, what is your set up. I'm not getting anything further south than Boynton with the antenna mounted on my roof.

A few people in my neighborhood have ham radio towers set up. I don't know if I get either of my antennas up 30+ feet if that will enable me to get Broward.
 

sl215

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Maybe you can listen to the RR feed on your PC. Although you couldn't listen to a particular channel you could still keep up on the action. I sometimes monitor Plantation Police since it has a dedicated feed. Try that.
 

McP

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I probably will go without a tower mast. Lightening is already a big problem here and with no guarantees to mostly likely not being able to get Broward, it's probably better for me to go off the live feeds.
 

tampabaynews

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It is very "likely."

Just for reference, I have a friend in Dania Beach who can pick up Palm Beach County with the same antenna. You should spend some time on the roof with a handheld and your antenna before you decide to mount it. You will have other factors like buildings and trees.
 

N4DES

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But Dania Beach to the closest PBC site is about 20 miles. Palm Beach County is 40 miles from north to south, so you cannot compare the two.

Unless he uses a very high gain yagi and low loss cable, his ability to hear Broward will be very intermittant at best.
 

McP

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I agree. When I lived in Weston, I was able to pick up PBSO with no problem. In fact, with my discone, I was picking up Naples at night and sometimes even Ft. Myers. I had nothing behind me except for the Everglades.

I'm now up in Jupiter, so I am at the furthest north end of the county and somewhat out west at that. I'm over 42 miles north of the Broward line.

I'm just going to stick with the online feed for now and go with a simple roof mount versus a tower. That should let me get St. Lucie and more of the south end of Palm Beach.

With my desktop antenna, I get Martin County and most of Palm Beach now, minus Boynton, Boca and Delray.

But Dania Beach to the closest PBC site is about 20 miles. Palm Beach County is 40 miles from north to south, so you cannot compare the two.

Unless he uses a very high gain yagi and low loss cable, his ability to hear Broward will be very intermittant at best.
 

tampabaynews

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40 miles is very achievable if you go high and don't buy cheap equipment. That's why I recommend spending some time on the roof before mounting antennas, you never know till you try.
 

KMG54

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Here is a online scanner that will get you martin, St. Lucie and Indian River co's. tcpalm.com/scanner/
 

McP

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40 miles is very achievable if you go high and don't buy cheap equipment. That's why I recommend spending some time on the roof before mounting antennas, you never know till you try.

I've tried the rooftop route with no luck. That was with the Laird 6db Omni and 400 LMR coax cable. It may be possible 30 feet up or higher, but I don't think it's worth what I want to do in going that route.

Thanks nmelfi for that link.
 

McP

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I did some experimenting. I picked up a 5 foot mast at RS and mounted it to the easement below the roof. I attached the Laird 800mhz 6db antenna to that, which is up about 15 feet high now. I didn't go with the 10 foot mast, because of the weight.

From Jupiter, I have no problem with most of Palm Beach, except Boca, Delray and Boynton PD (Boynton came in at times, but too low and static). This was using their individual sites. I do wish they were simulcast on PBSO like BSO does with cities in Broward.

I was able to get Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce pretty clear. Bit static, but understandable. St. Lucie SO was pretty clear. I was also able to get Clewiston PD in Hendry county (155mhz)

What I did find exciting, but I also know it was more atmospheric conditions, low humidity, etc. Was around 4:00am, I started picking up BSO, Pembroke Pines PD, Boca PD, Plantation and Fort Lauderdale PD. I eventually lost those around 6am.

So maybe up another 10-25 feet would be possible to pick up Broward more regularly. Although I am satisfied with the online sites, I may try my neighbor's tower mast still.

40 miles is very achievable if you go high and don't buy cheap equipment. That's why I recommend spending some time on the roof before mounting antennas, you never know till you try.
 

N4KVL

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There is no way around it, you are going to need some altitude above your roof, low loss cable and a good yagi to pick up the system that you would like to receive. The closest tower in broward to you is around 40 miles away at best.
 

McP

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I agree. I was getting Broward & Fort Lauderdale very clear this morning. That's just off the 15 foot height on the Laird Omni. I did eventually lose the signal around 9am though and started picking it up again around 8pm tonight. I was also picking up Hendry County, Clewiston, etc. as well, but I realize the lake will give me some good line of site across.

There is no way around it, you are going to need some altitude above your roof, low loss cable and a good yagi to pick up the system that you would like to receive. The closest tower in broward to you is around 40 miles away at best.
 
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