PSR310 Help Request

[gmt48]

I'm a newbie with very limited radio knowledge, so please be gentle.
I recently bought the PSR310 radio, an RS800 antenna from Radio Shack and the PSRedit software program. I learned programming with the software pretty easily. Scanning the police, fire and emergency services for my area is going very well. Weather, Aviation, Marine and CB I can receive no problem, also. However, when I try scanning the HAM bands I don't seem to be able to receive any transmissions though it appears the frequencies are being scanned. Do I need to program specific HAM frequencies into the radio or am I simply just missing something? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[jgervais83]

I have the PSR-310 too and I'm able to listen to HAM in my area with search mode. Maybe you're just not lucky and no one is emitting when you search

 

[gmt48]

jgervais83: thanks for the reply. I suppose that's a possibility I hadn't considered. I guess I figured with so many frequencies available, surely someone somewhere must be transmiitting. I'll keep at it. Thanks again.

 

[ka3jjz]

gmt, it would be much more helpful if we knew where you are (county/state is fine); there are many references- unfortunately some more accurate than others - apart from the recently started amateur repeater listings here on RR where you can find specific frequencies. I would also attempt to scan during the rush hours - those are likely to be the busiest times to find activity.

While the RS800 antenna, as I understand it, works OK on VHF hi and UHF, it's really not designed for these bands. Consequently you might just as well have a few antenna issues; there are duckies that are designed for the ham bands, and I am sure if you put up a decent outdoor antenna (which is really the way to go), you'd have little problem hearing ham repeaters. Same deal - even more so - if you use your scanner in a car. All that metal acts as a pretty crude but effective shield. A good mobile antenna is the way to go here

best regards..Mike

[edit] A caution here - don't go too fancy on the outdoor antenna if you decide to go that route. It's quite possible that the PSR310 shares the same propensity to overload on the VHF hi frequencies as other GRE radios do in high-traffic areas. If this is the case, some additional filtering will be in order.

 

[KB4REA]

I'm a newbie with very limited radio knowledge, so please be gentle.
I recently bought the PSR310 radio, an RS800 antenna from Radio Shack and the PSRedit software program. I learned programming with the software pretty easily. Scanning the police, fire and emergency services for my area is going very well. Weather, Aviation, Marine and CB I can receive no problem, also. However, when I try scanning the HAM bands I don't seem to be able to receive any transmissions though it appears the frequencies are being scanned. Do I need to program specific HAM frequencies into the radio or am I simply just missing something? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Your best bet is to find what your local amateur radio repeaters are and program their frequencies into your scanner. You can search for these freqs by entering your zip code at this site: Amateur Radio Repeater Database

Here's a definition of a radio repeater in case you don't know...

A radio repeater is a combination of a radio receiver and a radio transmitter that receives a weak or low-level signal and retransmits it at a higher level or higher power, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation.

 

[gmt48]

ka3jjz: Thank you for your reply. You and jgervais83 are probably right, maybe I'm just listening at the wrong times. I'm located in the Puget Sound region of Washington State and apparently surrounded by a number of repeaters. I have thought about some sort of unobtrusive, low profile outdoor antenna, but certainly don't want to go overboard with anything fancy or costly. Even though I'm in a semi-rural area, I don't want to advertise more than I have to. Do you have any suggestions for an antenna either low cost or one easily built by someone with no technical knowledge or skills?

 

[gmt48]

Brewkelyn: Thank you for your reply and the link. I'll follow your advice and program the repeaters for my area.