Pro 96 poor reception VHF Lo Band

[stimeslp]

I use a Diamond RH77CA or radioshack telescopic Anntenna with my pro96 and can never get good audio quality in the 29.900-50.000 MHz range im thinking about purchasing yaseu VR-500 f0r mil air and utility monitoring I also looked at the icom r5 any suggestions for whats good for milair and ute monitoring for mobile applications.

 

[loumaag]

I use a Diamond RH77CA or radioshack telescopic Anntenna with my pro96 and can never get good audio quality in the 29.900-50.000 MHz range im thinking about purchasing yaseu VR-500 f0r mil air and utility monitoring I also looked at the icom r5 any suggestions for whats good for milair and ute monitoring for mobile applications.

Well, I don't know about the R5 or VR500 but as far as the antennas you are using right now, neither are any good for Lo-Band VHF. I mean certainly the RH77CA was never designed to work at Lo-Band frequencies and the extendable antenna can't get anywhere near long enough to be effective. A 1/4 wave-length antenna cut for 29MHz would be just over 8 ft long.

 

[scanjunkie]

It also depends on the strength of the signal in your area. I use the Diamond RH77CA and receive low band with amazing results...but I have a very strong signal where I am.
Good Luck!!
Mark

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi all,

What hasn't been explained so far is "audio quality". That can be not only a weak signal loaded with noise or simply distorted audio. The weak signal is easily fixed with a proper antenna but if the audio itself is bad one of two things can be causing it.

One is improper programming which puts the signal slightly off the edge of the IF passband or improper receiver alignment which of course means repair or replace the scanner. If it's the latter I suspect something amiss with the PLL, each band requires an IF offset of it's own so all frequencies track together. The short form is if the signal is partly out of the passband one side is clipped off causing audio distortion.

I use this little trick to put interfering signals out of the passband, program an offset of 5kHz in the "wrong" direction. That shifts the signal to the opposite side while the unwanted one slides completely out.