Trouble Receiving 800mhz

[ecps92]

You could be getting other 800 interference, from a Cell Site, Sprint or a neighboring 800 Freq causing the reduction in %

Keep tweeking the aim of the antenna

This is what i purchased http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L3ZRF9A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The yagi is in the attic currently, and I'm getting varying results. I can go a few minutes locked in on 98% readings, and then five minutes later it'll read 50% for ten seconds, and jump to 60, 80 and everything in between. So whats going on? I'll keep adjusting until I find a spot that provides a more consistent reading. I do think that what I have heard is better than before for the most part.

 

[SCPD]

So almost two months later I've made a few improvements to everything. But my issue remains. I've rolled with the yagi antenna, and I'm satisfied about 8 times out of 10 with the reception, but i'm trying to get it perfect. I decided to take to the attic and mess with the antenna, where I tried moving it around to different spots. The results seem like they're the same as before, but I think that i'm hitting the 99%/98% decode rate more often. What is a readable decode rate? Should I be shooting for 90's or 95 and up only. There are times where the audio is still choppy, and I guess thats where the random 70% rate comes in. I'm thinking about adding sheet pants to better get the signal going to the one tower I'm trying to get at, but I'm open to further suggestions. Thanks everyone.

 

[prplehz]

I don't know if it will work for you. I got really lucky is what happened to me.. I found an old Firestick CB antenna I had laying around. Thought I would hook it up for the lower bands.. Well, for the heck of it I tried it on the 800 trunked system I can always almost get to come in clear on all the freqs in the system, just some are really full of static. If you fix one, a different one goes bad. Well, with the Firestick, it comes in better than it ever has.. I am assuming it is the attenuation factor in the antenna alone that is doing it. Just thought I would throw that out there since it is so against what one would expect from an antenna designed for the lower bands.. The tower I am listening to is about 15 miles away, maybe 20. It doesn't however fix the simulcast tower for the same system that is much closer to me.

 

[SCPD]

The location I'm trying to decode is pretty close to me, about 2 miles away. I was hopeful that the yagi would resolve the simulcast issues. It's made it better, but I'm not 100% happy yet.

 

[N3JI]

Interesting set of problems with these multi-site systems -- quite tricky... Since you're so close to the site, I would stick with the Yagi, and try adding attenuation. You need to get the interfering site(s) lower in signal strength, which the Yagi can do, but even off the side, or especially the back, Yagis can still let enough signal in to cause decoding problems. Since you're going for a dedicated radio to listen to that system, keep tweaking it until you have it where you like it.

If I was in your shoes, I would borrow a step attenuator and adjust the attenuation while steering the Yagi until it was dialed in perfectly. Then I'd build a home-brew attenutator out of resistors to match the settings on the step.

 

[SCPD]

Let me start by saying I still appreciate all of the responses!

I played around with the antenna in the attic on Friday before I went to work, and had no real gains with it at the moment. I just decided to shut off the scanner and d something else. Coming home from work tonight I decided to turn the scanner on and let it run for the first time all weekend. When I was done i decided to run the analyze on the system to see if anything had changed from Friday. 20 minutes of monitoring it, I've been hitting all 90's, which is different from Friday. Not sure what happened, but I'm guessing the weather. It's almost mid night here, an on Friday I tested about noon time. Im hoping that I'm not at the mercy of mother nature, but it's starting to seem that way.

N3JI:
Borrowing a step attenuator from anybody in this area would be tough for me. I know of nobody in the hobby around here, and I'm pretty much all around brand new to this stuff. I'd say that I'm technologically geared, but not to that point. The way that the network is set up I think that I'm pointing the Yagi to the only tower that is in this particular direction. I'm now thinking (based off of what you supplied) that the Yagi is getting signal from the back end from the towers in the East which is causing the continued problems. Testing tomorrow afternoon will tell more. Possibly a sheet pan/ cookie pan type of build with a 90 degree corner would resolve this?

 

[SCPD]

After messing around and looking at decode rates it turns out that my hand held with a RS-800 antenna is performing at a perfect decode rate, and it sounds excellent too. I decided to throw the pro 651 and the pro 652 on analyze and see what they came up with, and while the 652 (which is on the yagi mounted in the attic) is all over now, the 651 with a little rs 800 antenna is performing great. One thing I noticed is that, when its next to the window and the window is open it's perfect. When closing the window it throws it all off. Crazy, but I hope this helps me, I'd like to use the 652 along with the 2096 for desktop monitoring and the 651 for mobile use, but it seems for now that the 651 will provide good coverage of the simulcast system for now until I get the yagi situation solved.

 

[SCPD]

I mounted my directional yagi about 3 feet from the ground outside and the results have been tremendous. I now listen with no breaks in reception on the RISCON system. I will link the item ( i have no ties to it, but for others looking for future reference i will post the link )

Getting the antenna outside definitely made the reception of the tower better, and the decoding of my scanners are consistently excellent. keeping it inside i always had times where my decoding would drop no matter the spot.

New Directional Low Gain Yagi Antenna 10212 1 806 896 7 6dBi N Female | eBay

Thanks