Scanner pager reception problem in Home.

[laddr68]

I have a major problem with reception in my home; I have never had this problem before this house. It only accrues in the home and depends where in the house. The frequency range is all over the place. The house is from the 50’s and has aluminum siding. I have been told “maybe” the siding is not grounded right? But I have not been able to find someone to tell me if this is right or the proper way of doing this. To go back to the problem. 90% of the time I will not receive some fregs 33. and 400. Range in the house, but on the porch I will pick it up, once I go out the door with my pager it works fine, I placed an older scanner on the porch and it picks up everything else except, 33.80. My biggest problem is 33.66 but there was a problem but it was just upgraded to a higher output wattage, but there is still a problem. Also have a problem with some 400 range inside the house. I will be installing a outdoor antenna someday be in the mean time, just grounding the home would be the quicker solution, if this is be true.
Scanners have been Uniden, Radio shack, Pager(S) Motorola, I have tried 4 scanners and 3 pagers.
Any guidance would help. Rob

 

[SAR923]

No, grounding the house siding won't help anything. You're living in a nice Faraday cage, so radio signals won't get through well, if at all. As a temporary expedient, try placing the scanner or pager in a window, since glass doesn't block radio transmissions. The correct long-term solution is to put up an outdoor antenna. Rubber duck antennas on scanners tend to be at their worst when trying to pick up low band signals, so that's probably why you're having problems with the 33 Mhz range signals. A discone antenna, mounted as high as you can get it, should fix things right up.

 

[laddr68]

Jim, Thanks. I guess I will expedite the external antenna. But not running any rubber ducks. I have a older nutmeg antenna from a friend. I will be mounting this. Can I split the run with out to many problems? If yes how many times can I split it? It the time of year to get in the attic..lol

 

[SAR923]

I have no idea what a nutmeg antenna is. Is this a mast mounted antenna and, if so, what frequencies does it cover? Are you asking about splitting the output of one antenna into two or more scanners? If so, you can try it with an inexpensive television multicoupler. This will cause a loss of about 1/3 of your signal to each receiver. Thsi may be acceptable if you live in a strong signal area. If you're in a weak signal area, a multicoupler of better quality, like a Stridsberg, will be needed if you don't want to lose most of your signal. There's more at this long running thread: http://forums.radioreference.com/antennas-coax-forum/105054-using-one-antenna-multiple-scanners.html