suggestions?

[fkarl]

Have a radio shack pro 2052 that works really well with the antenna it came with.
I am less than 20 miles (16?) from a trunked system that I enjoy listening to..... but I can't seem to get it at my house.
One mile closer I can get it clear as a bell....(in my truck, on a power inverter) but I am also about 80-100 feet LOWER in elevation than I am at my house..... This really boggles my mind.
I feel like I SHOULD be able to get this system at my house. WHy can't I?
What would you experts do to remedy this situation?
Thanks.

 

[ka3jjz]

From the description, I'd say that something in or around your home is causing a blind spot depending on where the transmit antenna is - you could simply be in its shadow.

It's a little difficult to be more specific without knowing more about what you are trying to hear and your local RF environment, but that seems the most logical conclusion. For a simple test, move the scanner into another room of the house (or get it higher - say on a bookshelf). If the system that you are trying to hear is on 800 mhz, then even moving the radio a small amount may make all the differerence. However, keep in mind that given lots of hills and trees in the area, 20 miles might be a stretch on that frequency given that kind of enviornment. A better antenna, mounted outdoors and as high as practical, may be a solution - particularly a small Yagi (and at 800 Mhz, they're quite tiny) that can be pointed and rotated to find a better signal. Heck even a cheap TV rotator would do the trick, given that an 800 Mhz Yagi would have very negligble wind loading

Just a couple of thoughts...Mike

 

[benbenrf]

Another possibility - the "trunked system", or the part of it, you have been trying listen in to is not by chance "point-to-point" i.e. you pick it up in certain locations because they are in the beam width, but not others because they're outside the beam width?