Guys! I got the 800mhz ant from Radio Shack and it really did work! Phoenix PD now has full bars sometimes, it depends on how I hold the scanner though and where I am in my house. Although sometimes even with full bars they start cutting out, or it drops down to 1 bar any ideas as to why this happens? Do i need to adjust something on the scanner, I have heard something like the decode rate or something can be adjusted? Thanks!
Signal Question
- Thread starter chris480
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PHOENIX_SCANNER
Member
Good to hear! One more good report about the Radio Shack 800 mhz rubber duck antenna!
PHOENIX_SCANNER
Member
The RS antenna is a BNC and the 396 comes with an adapter to convert it's native SMA to the BNC for using things like the RS antenna.
Just curious what firmware version your 396 has. Do a Function, Settings, See Scanner Info, Firmware Version and see what version it reports. The current versionis 2.00.07.
I have the most current 2.00.07! Its weird If im in my room, laying on my bed and I hold my scanner in a certain way I get PPD without the cut outs, but if I move it or anyhwhere else in the house it cuts in and out even though I get full bars! Also it seems to pick up the best at night, weird if you ask me. What do you guys think about the preamp solution for the phoenix system? I have seen an amp you connect to a yagi and then you can walk around without having your hand held hooked up to the yagi. I have also seen an amp you put on your scanner in between the scanner and your ducky. Think any of these would help out?
AZScanner
Member
Doubtful. The cut-outs are caused by the simulcast signal reaching the scanner from multiple towers that are out of phase with one another. A preamp would likely make the problem worse, not better.
What you want to do is attenuate the interference from the other towers by using a directional antenna pointed in such a way that you only get a strong signal from ONE tower while attenuating the others. You need a yagi for this. Phoenix_Scanner gave the details in this thread: http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106057
Failing that, you might find better performance if you turn on the attenuator. The idea behind doing that is that you might attenuate out the interfering towers and only pull in the strongest one. Won't work if you're smack dab in the middle of several simulcast sites, but if you're closer to one than all the others then it might work.
-AZ
Ok guys I am told about simulcast signals with PPD, I am at Tatum and Dixileta and from Google Earth it looks like Tatum and Green Way is about 7 miles from me, I see no other towers that I think I would be picking up. Once again I get almost full bars for ppd with the RS 800mhz duck ant. It still cuts in and out, but what other tower would I be hitting? If I turn the Aattenuator on in the scanner I then only get 1 bar for PPD and dont really get very much traffic and what I do is still choppy. Sometimes however I can listen with no issues with the Attenuator OFF. Any ideas?
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