"Ralph Mowery" wrote in message
...
portable is a BC2245XLT, the other a BC780XLT. The other thing is that
the
coax to the BNC connector to the scanner has bent a bit badly, exposing
strands.

You probably have messed up the coax so bad that is your problem. Several
connectors should not be noticable in most cases. Provided that they are
quality connectors.

Yep, Time to replace.