Scantenna Airband.

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Lotek

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Hello I recently purchased a Antennacraft ST2 for use with my GRE PSR-500. I am getting very bad performance around 100 to 165mhz. I have it mounted on a plastic mast on top of my second story so the antenna is about 35' in the air. As it stands now I am getting better reception with the PSR-500's stock rubber ducky than with the scantenna in that frequency range. Do I need to get another antenna to get good reception in Civilian Air? Any recommendations would be appreciated.


Lotek :)
 
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digitalanalog

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I have two scantenna's i use them both for scanning 150 - 158.000 MHz and have no problem at all, and i am only mounted at about 25' or so plus i am below the tree level.

Not sure why you would not get the results your looking for.

You may want to consider a Yagi type antenna that you can direct, just a suggestion.
Good luck
 
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Those radios are prone to receiver de-sense due to strong signals, often not in the band you are attempting to monitor. Have you tried using the Attenuator? That antenna should do quite well with aviation band, so maybe check all connections and then try playing with the Attenuator.
 

k4njk

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You're probably overloading the receiver. I experienced a similar problem and it was caused by overload from nearby FM broadcast stations. As was stated earlier try turning on the attenuator. I solved the majority of my problems with a PAR FM Notch filter. Others have reported VHF interference from 152Mhz paging stations, 162Mhz NOAA WX radio and/or VHF TV signals above 170Mhz.
 

Lotek

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Thanks for the replys guys. I was able to get a friends PSR-100 to compare to my PSR-500. On the stock antennas the 500 has better performance in VHF. If I hook them up to the ST2 the 100 shows better VHF performance. I tried using the anttinuator but it did not seem to help much. I think you are right about overloading the front end of the radio as I do have some high power VHF stations within 15 miles from my house. Do you have a recommendation for a filter? I found this one.

http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/filters/0098.html
 
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SAR923

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I use this filter from http://www.scannermaster.com/HPN_30118_Combined_Notch_Filter_p/24-531024.htm on my Pro-96. It's a combination high pass and notch filter that kills everythng below 30 Mhz and knocks out the 88-108 Mhz section of the FM band. Without this filter, my VHF reception with an RS 20-176 in the attic was terrible with lots of images. The filter cured all these issues. The only other problem would be if nearby paging stations are causing the desense. The PAR filter at http://www.universal-radio.com/CATALOG/filters/1813.html will cure that. All GRE receivers above entry level have very sensitive but wide open front ends and the performance in VHF on a base antenna will always be bad without a filter.
 
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