radio reception

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KA4PQA

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My weather radio is on an external antenna in the window which usually receives the columbia south carolina weather station by way of local transmitter clear and fine but between last night and this morning i raised the antenna and rearranged the coax and now the columbia weather staion is in a gargled reception fight with a altalnta weather radio station that serves the georgia area.Could this be atmoshperic,meaning weather, or a band reception? opening?
 

hill

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Most likely ducting. Please see the link below, as it looks some good VHF conditions. The VHF weather channels are a good indicater for band openings. If you turn to other channels and receive out of the area ones you know that conditions are good.

 

trentbob

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So in my location in the north suburbs of Philadelphia I'm actually able to hear five different NOAA weather stations with a rooftop.

Reception varies all the time depending on atmospheric conditions. 162.4 is Allentown Pennsylvania and Atlantic City New Jersey. Sometimes I get Allentown clear as a bell and other times I get the garbled multi transmission of Atlantic City and Allentown competing. I have no doubt it's all atmospheric.

You will find also in the summer time as trees fill up with leaves and additional branches that will also change reception on a lot of systems and frequencies. For fun try listening at 4 a.m. on a crisp cool morning. :)
 

jim202

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The other thing to consider is that the transmitter and or antenna being used by the NOAA location has a problem. It is not uncommon to have a lightning strike take the transmitter either out or have a very weak signal. As I can hear 3 different weather transmitters from where I live, I compare signal strength of what they normally are. If I find one of them is in the mud, I will call the local weather service and let them know there could be an issue with which ever location I have trouble hearing.

Jim
 

bob550

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Here are the propagation maps for both the Greenville and Atlanta NOAA sites. Unless you live on a mountain top and your antenna is mounted on a tall mast in the clear, there's little chance of your receiving two separate weather stations on the same frequency. While you may be able to receive multiple NOAA frequencies among the seven in use, there's little chance of any overlap in coverage on the same channel. Anyway, the "FM capture effect" should ensure you're only hearing one broadcast and not both at once. All that said, there's probably an temporary atmospheric cause to what you're experiencing and shouldn't be a permanent problem for you. If all else fails, you can also just relocate your antenna back to its original position.
 

217

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KA4PQA did say it was Columbia he listens to, so Columbia would be 162.400. Atlanta is .550. Now KHC28 162.425 serves Greenwood county SC. So unless KA4PQA is more specific with what station he listens to, its anyones guess.
 

bob550

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KA4PQA did say it was Columbia he listens to, so Columbia would be 162.400.
Sorry. I was thinking Greenville. Based on his QTH of Greenwood however, it appears that 162.425 transmitter is most local to the OP. It is operated out of the Columbia forecast office, which transmits on multiple frequencies for various geographic areas.
 

KO4IPV

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The other thing to consider is that the transmitter and or antenna being used by the NOAA location has a problem. It is not uncommon to have a lightning strike take the transmitter either out or have a very weak signal. As I can hear 3 different weather transmitters from where I live, I compare signal strength of what they normally are. If I find one of them is in the mud, I will call the local weather service and let them know there could be an issue with which ever location I have trouble hearing.

Jim
All high tower weather stations and cellular towers have high grade surpressors makes it just about impossible that a lightning strike can take them out
 

jim202

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When I was living up in NH. I worked for a radio shop that had a contract with the NWS. We had several sites that we were taking care of. Yes they do suffer damages just like most other 2 way systems. Even with all the grounding and surge protection, that doesn't mean they are totally immune to mother nature. Sometimes the antenna looks like a banana peel after taking a strike and needs to be replaced.

I have also worked for a number of different cellular carriers. Same goes for those cell site installations. They spend a good amount of money protecting their cell site. Grounding is done in a major way. The coax cables are grounded in several locations on the tower. They coax cables are grounded as they enter the shelter. Inside the shelter they are grounded again as well as a surge protector on each cable. Each rack is grounded. Each chassis in the racks are grounded. But they do suffer damage now and then.

One thing that I have found over the years is that home electrical grounding rods need to be changed out after about 10 years. The rods do suffer corrosion and the ground resistance they supply goes way up over time. I take about a 10 year stand on them and they should be changed out. How do I know this, my home in Louisiana took a strike one day from a tree some distance from the house. The strike traveled along the tree roots to another tree and more roots to my pre stressed cable slab. I had all sorts of electronics damaged in the house even with surge protectors on the power feeds to them.

I brought home a ground tester from work and killed the power to the house. Then removed the ground wire going to the ground rod from the meter. Measured the ground resistance on the ground rod and found that the rod was like around 300 Ohms. So got a new rod and measured it and had like 3 Ohms. So this is why all my surge protection on the power lines going to each electronic device did not work. No good ground to work with.

Jim
 
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