Radios at work?

[tigerlilly6]

:?: Hello - I was wondering if there were any portable radios geared towards better FM reception for places with very little reception? I work for an insurance company that is an old warehouse with no windows, & have a very difficult time getting good reception? Any suggestions?

 

[crayon]

Depending on the type of materials used in the construction of the shell of the building, you might be flat out of luck.

A radio signal is a signal is a signal, and if its amplitude is considerably reduced by the time it gets to you, switching radios really is not going to help all that much. The only thing that can improve reception is an external antenna or a high gain internal antenna.

HTH's

 

[nmfire10]

Most commercial radios and even ham radios have better sensitivity than a scanner. I'm trying to remember what the numbers were on the SC200. It think it was like .34uV or something to break squelch. Most commercial radios are between .17uV and .25uV. Hell, my Icom 2800 will break squelch with less than .07uV... the service monitor doesn't go any lower! The thing could hear a mouse fart in siberia.

If (and that's a big if) there is enough signal making into the building, a more sensitive radio can help. But, if there just isn't enough, a different receiver will make no difference. You might be better served by getting a better antenna for the band your listening to and see if that helps.

 

[russellv2]

The last post mentioned a different antenna. I would certainly recommend trying it. The rubber antennas that are standard with any handheld radio/scanner are not at all the best quality. There are many other choices that offer better gain and may even be tuned to the band(s) you're wanting to receive.
Something I found, quite by accident (though it makes sense), is to get a telesopic (one that can be varied in length). That way you can have a whole bunch of options. Though as a warning, it's really hard to find a telescopic type that works well for anything higher than about 500MHz.
Just a couple thoughts. Hope they help.

...the service monitor doesn't go any lower! The thing could hear a mouse fart in siberia.

That's pretty sensitive!!! Sweet! Icom's are good for that, though my V8000 can get annoying at times because it's so sensitive. Something like... .07uV as well.

 

[colheli]

:?: Hello - I was wondering if there were any portable radios geared towards better FM reception for places with very little reception? I work for an insurance company that is an old warehouse with no windows, & have a very difficult time getting good reception? Any suggestions?

I would try something like this http://www.andrew.com/products/trans_line/radiax/default.aspx before messing around with new radios/spending time trying to better tune them/switching antennae. Radiax cables are made for just this type of application. I don't have any personal experience with the product, but neither have I heard anyone say that it just flat out doesn't work.

 

[russellv2]

Interesting cable. Interesting idea. If you try it let me know (or if anyone has tried it let me know) how it works. I'd be curious to find out about it. Not that I doubt it works, I've just never heard of anything like that before.

 

[nd5y]

Radiating cable is used instead of an antenna for a base station,
or with a bidirectional amplifier and and outside
antenna to bring signals into and out of an area like a mine, tunnel,
or inside a large building with no radio coverage.
It would be too expensive to set up a system like that just for scanner use.

Tom

 

[nmfire10]

Radiax is not goign to do you any good at all here. It's application is totally different than this situation. In fact, Radiax is only on part of an entire in-building coverage system. It will do you no good at all.

 

[colheli]

Radiating cable is used instead of an antenna for a base station,
or with a bidirectional amplifier and and outside
antenna to bring signals into and out of an area like a mine, tunnel,
or inside a large building with no radio coverage.
It would be too expensive to set up a system like that just for scanner use.

Tom

Actually, Tom. The original post was about portable radios, not scanners. It seems to me like this ought to be able to work: You put an antenna outside of the building, and connect the Radiax to it. Signals received at the antenna are carried down the Radiax, and reradiated inside the warehouse. Transmitted signals are picked up by the Radiax, and are sent to the outside antenna, to be reradiated into the atmosphere. You might lose some signal in all of that, but nowhere near the signal loss of trying to radiate through the actual walls of the building itself. Being a warehouse, I would think that, oncce you were inside of the building, it is probably pretty open, meaning that whatever you get out of the Radiax itself, is not likely to be attenuated too much, once it gets inside the building. But, like I said, I have never actually seen the stuff installed anywhere. I do know that we have a similar type of thing, to allow our GPS receivers to work inside the hangar. There is an antenna mounted to the top of the hangar, which feeds an antenna mounted to the ceiling, inside the hangar. We can get a GPS lock, even indoors.

 

[nmfire10]

If he's in a warehouse, then a single indoor antenna is all that should be required for a passive repeater. Using radiax would be a collossal waste of money. This guy needs to explain what he is actually trying to accomplish.

 

[INDY72]

Precisely, he just says FM reception, is this for a commercial grade HT? Is this a scanner? Is this a FM broadcast reciever as in AM/FM stereo?????

 

[LarryN]

The post is vauge and sounds to me like he is looking for a very simple fix. Since he mentions only "FM' and no list of radio models, my guess is commerical FM radio. So for what it is worth here is my $0.02 worth:

I have patched in to the metal strips between the drop ceiling by sanding down to bare metal and running a wire to my AM/FM radio. If you are in a metal building you may be able to find some structural metal and do the same. I am having a similar problem in my office. I have to listen to my favorite radio station via the internet. I have re-arrainged the office about ten times to find a good spot for my scanner. I have found a setup that works. Christmas 2001 my bought me a AM/FM/CD/TV player on the last job and camping it is great. I can pick up stations from about 50 miles away. As soon as I bring it in to my current office I can't pick up anything. My office used to be a treatment room in a hospital. It has tile and reinforced cement walls. As soon as I step out of the office with the scanner my reception is crystal clear. So tigerlilly6 you may be SOL and will have to resort to not being able to listen to anything at work. If you want to run a attenna outside look for any existing holes in the exterior walls where something else penetrates the wall. I once ran a coax cable through a old vent pipe for a TV attenna in a office.

Good luck.

 

[merlin3rd]

They used to sell those junk gaget devices on TV that you plug into the electric wall outlet for an antenna. It simply used the ground connection at the outlet as an antenna. Just make sure you know which hole is ground:?:

 

[joescanner]

I would try something like this http://www.andrew.com/products/trans_line/radiax/default.aspx before messing around with new radios/spending time trying to better tune them/switching antennae. Radiax cables are made for just this type of application. I don't have any personal experience with the product, but neither have I heard anyone say that it just flat out doesn't work.

This is what runs in the twin-tube Robertson (Light-Rail) Tunnel under the west hills in Portland Oregon, in combination with some BDAs (filtered, however, so all you can hear is Portland or Washington County's trunk systems) about every 7/10 of a mile.

It works fairly well in that application, although TriMet does still experience varied reception problems (that are likely just due to the length of the radiax or other engineering issues).

 

[Tweekerbob]

Internet Radio

TigerLilly,

A more practical solution to your problem may be to tune to an internet radio station. This beats buying HUNDREDS of $$$ in Radiax and antenna, and then asking your boss if it's okay to re-decorate the office in offensive coax. There are thousands of internet radio stations out there and one of them may broadcast a particular genre that fits your interest.

If you are just in love with your radio station, you can easily setup your own broadcast using your computer and your radio at home, then just tune in to it at work. These are actually pretty easy to setup.

All this is moot if your boss doesn't give you realtively free access to the internet at work. Then the only solution is...go to an insurance company that doesn't put you in a warehouse with no internet and most importantly no windows. I used to be an insurance agent for a long time and have never worked in a warehouse with no windows. Or a warehouse for that matter.

You might need some good speakers for your PC at work. These are easily had sometimes for free but probably no more than $25-$30 for a decent set.