Hi all,
I'm not experienced at all with scanner receivers and/or radios in general, so forgive me if what I'm about to ask ends up being really stupid on my part. I also apologize in advance for the length of this post--I'm going to go as detailed as I can, since I know that might help someone figure out if my scanner isn't working right, or if I'm just an idiot who is missing something really simple that I should have figured out on my own.
I fly rockets, and my local club flies on farm land. Needless to say, rockets and corn fields don't mix well. At a national sport launch a few weeks ago, I bought a rocket tracking system (minus receiver) from a guy who was getting out of the hobby. It's a small transmitter that transmits on 219.5267 MHz, and using a yagi-style directional antenna (which is labeled as optimized for 218-220MHz spectrum), you connecting it using a BNC cable into the adapter on the scanner hone in on the direction of your rocket so you can walk a straight line to it and course correct as you get closer and closer to the landing spot of the rocket. He demonstrated it using his $400 Radio Shack scanner that he wasn't selling, and I bought the transmitter and antenna.
Looking to not spend $400 on a scanner to use a transmitter and antenna that I bought for $80, I bought a refurbished BC346XT on Amazon. The issue I'm having is that, unless I'm an idiot and I'm missing something, I don't think the antenna connection on my unit is working correct. With the stock antenna, it picks up the signal in every direction, as expected. However, with the directional antenna connected, it still picks up the signal in every direction. Removing the antenna entirely, I discovered that if I walked just far enough away to lose the signal, I could touch my fingers (or any piece of metal at all) to the threads for connecting an antenna, and the signal would be picked up. It seems like the antenna connection is not functioning properly. Obviously, with the direction antenna attached and the scanner using the antenna correctly, it would only pick up the signal when I have the yagi antenna pointed in the direction of the transmitter. Since it picks up all FM radio signals and everything else I've scanned for, I know the scanner works when it receives the signal, but it's just a matter of me figuring out how to get it to be directional instead of picking up in every single direction around me. It just seems that the directional antenna isn't directional at all, and the fault seems to lie with the antenna connection on the BC346XT unless I'm missing something. I tried attenuating on the scanner and everything else I could think of and play around with, but I can't figure out how to connect the directional antenna and actually have it only pick up the signal in one direction properly.
Has anyone had trouble connecting a yagi style directional antenna to the BC346XT? I'll never find a rocket in the corn fields using my system if it says there's a signal in every direction, lol. I'm wondering if I need to return the refurbished scanner and try again with a different unit or a different model because it's possibly defective.
Thank you all for your time and help; I appreciate it!
Joe S.
I'm not experienced at all with scanner receivers and/or radios in general, so forgive me if what I'm about to ask ends up being really stupid on my part. I also apologize in advance for the length of this post--I'm going to go as detailed as I can, since I know that might help someone figure out if my scanner isn't working right, or if I'm just an idiot who is missing something really simple that I should have figured out on my own.
I fly rockets, and my local club flies on farm land. Needless to say, rockets and corn fields don't mix well. At a national sport launch a few weeks ago, I bought a rocket tracking system (minus receiver) from a guy who was getting out of the hobby. It's a small transmitter that transmits on 219.5267 MHz, and using a yagi-style directional antenna (which is labeled as optimized for 218-220MHz spectrum), you connecting it using a BNC cable into the adapter on the scanner hone in on the direction of your rocket so you can walk a straight line to it and course correct as you get closer and closer to the landing spot of the rocket. He demonstrated it using his $400 Radio Shack scanner that he wasn't selling, and I bought the transmitter and antenna.
Looking to not spend $400 on a scanner to use a transmitter and antenna that I bought for $80, I bought a refurbished BC346XT on Amazon. The issue I'm having is that, unless I'm an idiot and I'm missing something, I don't think the antenna connection on my unit is working correct. With the stock antenna, it picks up the signal in every direction, as expected. However, with the directional antenna connected, it still picks up the signal in every direction. Removing the antenna entirely, I discovered that if I walked just far enough away to lose the signal, I could touch my fingers (or any piece of metal at all) to the threads for connecting an antenna, and the signal would be picked up. It seems like the antenna connection is not functioning properly. Obviously, with the direction antenna attached and the scanner using the antenna correctly, it would only pick up the signal when I have the yagi antenna pointed in the direction of the transmitter. Since it picks up all FM radio signals and everything else I've scanned for, I know the scanner works when it receives the signal, but it's just a matter of me figuring out how to get it to be directional instead of picking up in every single direction around me. It just seems that the directional antenna isn't directional at all, and the fault seems to lie with the antenna connection on the BC346XT unless I'm missing something. I tried attenuating on the scanner and everything else I could think of and play around with, but I can't figure out how to connect the directional antenna and actually have it only pick up the signal in one direction properly.
Has anyone had trouble connecting a yagi style directional antenna to the BC346XT? I'll never find a rocket in the corn fields using my system if it says there's a signal in every direction, lol. I'm wondering if I need to return the refurbished scanner and try again with a different unit or a different model because it's possibly defective.
Thank you all for your time and help; I appreciate it!
Joe S.