Reception health

[italia2006]

Any ideas for antenna in attic or any advice to get better reception for Hartford edacs system from Berlin CT on lamentation dr. My psr 500 can't pick up from there. Antenna inside or out is fine, but not the handiest kind of guy. I tried a mag mount antenna in attic no sound. If I bring scanner in attic with RS antenna I can get with the 500. Sorry if not too technological of a description. My pro 107 and Whistler 1080 get Hartford but a little scratchy. Thanks in advNce. Also my 500 gets Hartford great from wethersfield ( work )

 

[Bob1955]

Any ideas for antenna in attic or any advice to get better reception for Hartford edacs system from Berlin CT on lamentation dr. My psr 500 can't pick up from there. Antenna inside or out is fine, but not the handiest kind of guy. I tried a mag mount antenna in attic no sound. If I bring scanner in attic with RS antenna I can get with the 500. Sorry if not too technological of a description. My pro 107 and Whistler 1080 get Hartford but a little scratchy. Thanks in advNce. Also my 500 gets Hartford great from wethersfield ( work )

italia2006, a magnetic antenna will only work on a piece of metal such as a air conditioner outside your window. I had a Hustler Magnetic Mount Mobile scanner antenna and it worked MUCH better then a telescoping antenna mounted outside on my Sharp a/c. Also, you can log onto Amazon.com and purchase a Diamond RH-77CA and that will work much better for you. If not, you can return it. Explain what you want to hear and I forgot what your GRE PSR-500 looks like. Also, were do you live? You mention Hartford, CT. It is all digital trunking there for CT State Police. Some local towns use analog. Message me back please.

 

[cg]

There may be more variables than simply putting up an antenna. GRE scanners are known for getting overloaded by strong local signals more than the Uniden radios. I had 3 PRO197s and they were always getting overloaded by FM BCB and NOAA WX. If you put up an external antenna, you may be making the problem worse. Also, if you are within a half mile of a cell site, my experience is that the RF output will cripple weak signals.

chris

 

[Dan6071]

the best antenna i found is the spectra multiband it sell's for $140.00 but well worth the money

 

[italia2006]

italia2006, a magnetic antenna will only work on a piece of metal such as a air conditioner outside your window. I had a Hustler Magnetic Mount Mobile scanner antenna and it worked MUCH better then a telescoping antenna mounted outside on my Sharp a/c. Also, you can log onto Amazon.com and purchase a Diamond RH-77CA and that will work much better for you. If not, you can return it. Explain what you want to hear and I forgot what your GRE PSR-500 looks like. Also, were do you live? You mention Hartford, CT. It is all digital trunking there for CT State Police. Some local towns use analog. Message me back please.

 

[italia2006]

As I said I live in Berlin CT. On lamentation dr( lamentation mountain area). I'm trying to listen to Hartford CT EDACS system. All freq are in the middle 800 MHz range. In my attic with regular RS 800 antenna I can get reception. So I'm thinking an antenna would help

 

[izzyj4]

I ran an old mag-mount Radio Shack antenna in my attic and set it on some old metal shelving to make a ground plane. It actually performed better than my discone. I live just west of New Haven and was able to pick up the Suffolk County system fairly decently from my location.

A good test would be to temporarily set up an antenna outside as high up as you can get it with some decent coax and see if you can even pick up the city TRS from your location. This would be the first thing I would try.

Knowing where you are in Berlin, you may have to use a Yagi / directional antenna tuned for 800 Mhz. Looking where the sites are in Hartford per their license (https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?fccCallsign=WPSJ542) to where you are, you may have a lot of obstacles in the way. Obviously its better to have the antenna outside, but a directional inside can work. If you can get to borrow one as a test that could help.

One thing too you should pay attention to is if there is any metal in your attic (ie duct work, foil backed insulation, etc.) because that could possibly give you reception problems due to reflection.

 

[doctordialtone]

A good test would be to temporarily set up an antenna outside as high up as you can get it with some decent coax and see if you can even pick up the city TRS from your location. This would be the first thing I would try.

Knowing where you are in Berlin, you may have to use a Yagi / directional antenna tuned for 800 Mhz.

One thing too you should pay attention to is if there is any metal in your attic (ie duct work, foil backed insulation, etc.) because that could possibly give you reception problems due to reflection.

As I said before, you should be able to hear Hartford easily. I live not too far away from you and they bang in here.

Try what Izzy suggested.

Good Luck.

 

[6079smithw]

I too, grew up in that area and agree Hartford should be bombing in, guessing metal in the attic as well. OR... Is your mag-mount working properly? Coax/connectors OK? Quick-and-dirty experiment: put the mag-mount on your car roof and try it in your driveway. If it works, you owe me a Capitol Lunch hot dog or two... they need to open a branch here in Reno!

(Now as cold as it's been in CT lately, could also be the signal's freezing and falling to the ground near the tower)