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I'm getting fed up with lousy reception in my car of ValleyCom and all of the other TRS that I like to listen to. I use a PRO-97 and an NMO mount antenna cut to 850, and I find that the reception is as good, if not better, with the rubber duck inside the car! WTF?

I live in Fremont, and it all comes in lousy. Seattle Fire, bad. Eastside, Bad. VC? Bad.

Any suggestions?

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Rob
N7LXI - Seattle

The NMO will give you much better reception. So what you said about that, makes sense. A scanner isn't going to give you very good reception inside a car; that is to be expected. Even an MTS2000 will perform better inside a car, if it's connected to a roof antenna.

Are you sure you typed those sentences right? Am I sure I read this right? Cause I know you know better, Rob. :wink:

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I taste copper.
Comments, views, opinions - and trails of destruction - are my own.

I know, it sounds crazy, but there it is!

The trunk lip mount NMO whip cut for 850 works NO BETTER than the 800Mhz rubber duck I have on the scanner.

bad coax? Bad connector? operator error?

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Rob
N7LXI - Seattle

Is the 800mhz antenna a 'no ground plane' ?? We see much better reception on 800mhz LTR with an NMO mount directly in the roof or trunk.

We sell the B8065CN 5db gain antenna. GREAT RESULTS!!

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I was gonna say check the connector. Does it sound better on VHF with a VHF antenna with the NMO?

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"

With the GRE-600 in my car, I have found overload from cell towers to be the most significant factor in receiving the local trunked systems. You are often better off with a less efficient (rather than more efficient) antenna under these circumstances. That may explain why your rubber duck works better than the exterior antenna.

When real close to a cell tower, I have actually gotten a better trunked signal by completely disconnecting the antenna. When someone else told me to try this, I thought that they were nuts, but I tried it, and much to my surprise it worked!

When you really understand what front end overload is this makes perfect sense...

With all the 800mHz rf the first amplifer in your receiver is kept quite busy. It has no resources left to amplify your wanted signals. Its also amplifying these unwanted signals into your receiver raising the noise floor substantially.

Make sense?

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"A well regulated breakfast, being necessary to the healthy start of the day, the right of the people to keep and eat food shall not be infringed."

Move? I get the Seattle simulcast well, but anything else sucks. Haven't tried to pick up KC/VC from my new place.

Have you tried the Radio Shack 800 antenna? It's actually really really good.

Taco, the Radio Shack 800 antenna is what I use, but it's still sketchy in spots.

I'm just surprised at how bad I receive all of the TRS stuff with the antenna on the trunk. The car is a lease, so no drilling. I haven't tried the scanner with a VHF antenna yet. This weekend, maybe.

At home, the Seattle Simulcast is listenable, but I work down south. :( I guess I'll just keep messing with it.

Preston, maybe I should try one your antennas.

And I understand the front end overload issues. Damm cell towers! I occasionally get a "hetrodyne" type sound on the scanner. I'm guessing that's caused by cell or something else overloading the front end of the radio, too.

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Rob
N7LXI - Seattle

See the eBay link in the other thread I posted. Those antennas are awesome. Totally bulletproof.

Okay, if you're getting a hetrodyne or overloading, then probably not too much can be done until rebanding except the antenna swap or possibly hitting the ATT button. I get the same issue in other areas with overloading from cell or Nextel sites on my 197. I wouldn't trade the hot front end though. The rebanding could render the 97 obsolete.

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"I was installing un-programmed radios"