BDK, it was the discone. As a test I picked up a cheap RS 20-176, and 800
trunks are crystal clear. It was an antenna warehouse super discone. I
emailed them and they are going to exchange it for a scantenna for a niminal
fee. Generous of them I thought.
Thanks again,
Harry
--
"BDK" wrote in message
...
In article , harryc56
lid says...
BDK, thanks for the reply. I think you may be onto something with the
coax
or antenna. I stuck on a RS telescoping and I got to the nearest trunked
system no problem. So, I guess I'll check out the coax first (It's
RG6/U),
then maybe try the scantenna. The discone is brand new, and the RG6 is a
couple of years old. Might try another straight run of coax. Is there an
easy way to test for loss on coax? I could just go right out to the
discone
and run a short piece to the handheld I suppose.
Harryc
--
"BDK" wrote in message
...
In article , harryc56
lid says...
I have a Pro-95. I have a couple of Mot and Edacs trunking systems
in
the
region. These are Police trunks in a town about 15 miles from here,
and
another town about 20 miles away. I am running off of an antenna
warehouse
super discone. If I scan between 851.0 and 868.9875 I do not pick up
any
strong repeaters, but otherwise I have no problem receiving as far
at 40
miles away on conventional frequencies....much further on Ham. What
would be
the normal expected transmit range on an 800mhz trunked
system/repeater?
Since I can't seem to pull in any strong repeaters, that should tell
me
that
I need a better antenna, an 800mhz specific antenna, or to tune the
discone
somehow. Is my thought process valid? Any ideas?
Harryc
--



Well, just about ANY antenna is better than a discone, but you should
be able to get at least the closer of the two systems with the rubber
duck, let alone an outside antenna. You may be overloading the 95, and
that's why you can't hear anything. Try scanning the 800 PSB freqs
with
the duck and see what happens. Maybe the coax on the discone has taken
a
dive and hasn't gotten really bad yet, so the higher freqs are the
only
ones affected so far.


For a better antenna, check out:

http://users.cis.net/kingpop/Scanner/Scantenna.htm

Can you hear anything on 800? You should be able to hear control
channels buzzing away somewhere, and that's all the 95 needs to trunk
track. My 93 has no problem getting local trunked when I am 15-20
miles
away with a replacement (MFJ dual band short duck) antenna, the
original
got tweaked and I tossed it.

BDK




If it's new RG-6, and is even reasonably decent quality, it should be
ok. Some is ok at first, but only lasts a couple of years before it
starts getting real lossy, and 800 is going to be the first affected by
it when it starts to go. How many feet are you running?

BDK