Picking up more conversations from car in the driveway than from base station.

[adicrosta]

Why am I able to hear multiple conversations on multiple channels from my car parked in the driveway but not from my house, when my house antenna is much higher (about 25 ft)? Both radios are the same and programmed the same way.  The antenna on my car is the Luiton 32” Whip Antenna for GMRS and the one on the roof of my house is Ed Fong's DBJ-UHF GMRS base station antenna.

I transmitted via channel 7 (simplex) and communication was clear in both directions. I tried swapping the radios, and again the radio in the car picked up multiple conversations, but nothing was being picked up from inside.

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, adicrosta said:

Why am I able to hear multiple conversations on multiple channels from my car parked in the driveway but not from my house, when my house antenna is much higher (about 25 ft)? Both radios are the same and programmed the same way.  The antenna on my car is the Luiton 32” Whip Antenna for GMRS and the one on the roof of my house is Ed Fong's DBJ-UHF GMRS base station antenna.

I transmitted via channel 7 (simplex) and communication was clear in both directions. I tried swapping the radios, and again the radio in the car picked up multiple conversations, but nothing was being picked up from inside.

Either the feedline or the antenna on your house is not as good as the one in your car. 
The first thing I would suggest is that your coax might be attenuating the signal. What kind of coax is it?

[OffRoaderX]

What kind of coax are you using on the house antenna and how long is it?

[OffRoaderX]

Mathafaka!

[WRUU653]

32 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Mathafaka!

@SteveShannon can be quick can’t he . I’m guessing that’s what that was a response to. 

[adicrosta]

It's 50 feet - Bolton400 (LMR400 equivalent) 

[BoxCar]

What antenna, how high is it and what are you using for the ground plane?

[piggin]

This link is pure gold for seeing the effect of feedline loss on your station. https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

 I have 100 feet of LMR 400 going to my 2m/440 antenna. At 465 mhz power loss is 48 percent. That does not count loss in the connectors or adapters inline too.

 I just call it more than half to be conservative. 50 feet of LMR400 is 28 percent loss. Feedline loss is evil because not only does it turn your transmitter power into heat...it also turns incoming signals into heat too. It reduces the sensitivity of your station while making the transmitted signal weaker.

 It's one of the things I hate about UHF. Good feedline is expensive. If you know anyone who works in LMR for a living beg them for scrap hardline...maybe you will score! I use a short run of 20 feet to my low antenna and use Bolton LMR600. Loss in the cable is 7 percent. This makes me happy. It is a great local work antenna system.

 Unlike your home station however, you can drive your car to the top of a mountain...and be the king of all signals while you are there! I have been on mountains and worked ridiculous distances with only 10 watts. I live near the blue ridge parkway so it's easy.

 

[WRYZ926]

You can overcome cable loss with a good antenna with enough gain. I also use the coax loss calculator that @piggin linked to. It is a very helpful tool to have. We will have to wait for @adicrosta to let us know what antenna he is using. 

I see that the coax cable he is using comes from Amazon which could be part of the problem he is having.

[adicrosta]

I guess that makes sense. I can get stronger signals, but the weaker ones that I'm picking up from the car, are low/staticky and if I back the car up a bit it becomes very difficult to hear.

So it would make sense that even the slightest loss in signal strength in the cable at the house would have an affect.

What's the best way/tool to use to test signal loss in a cable? Can it be done with the Surecom Sw-102?

[Guest]

What about squelch settings on each radio?  You do not have enough loss in the cable to matter at all.   It’s either an antenna issue or a squelch or radio issue.  50’ is nothing.  I get 200miles from 50’ of lmr400 and a 20w radio and a good quality antenna.     Gotta go back to basics.   

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, adicrosta said:

I guess that makes sense. I can get stronger signals, but the weaker ones that I'm picking up from the car, are low/staticky and if I back the car up a bit it becomes very difficult to hear.

So it would make sense that even the slightest loss in signal strength in the cable at the house would have an affect.

What's the best way/tool to use to test signal loss in a cable? Can it be done with the Surecom Sw-102?

It can be tested that way. First, put the sw-102 right at the radio and see what your power output is. Then move it to the end of the coax and see what the power output is. The difference is the loss. 
Another thing to consider is how close your roof antenna is to the roof. It should be up above the high point of the roof at least half of a wavelength or about 15 inches or so, more if possible. 

[adicrosta]

32 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

It can be tested that way. First, put the sw-102 right at the radio and see what your power output is. Then move it to the end of the coax and see what the power output is. The difference is the loss. 
Another thing to consider is how close your roof antenna is to the roof. It should be up above the high point of the roof at least half of a wavelength or about 15 inches or so, more if possible. 

Ok, I'll give it a test. 

The antenna is pretty close to the roof at the moment, definitely less than 15 inches.

[adicrosta]

 

4 hours ago, WRXP381 said:

What about squelch settings on each radio?  You do not have enough loss in the cable to matter at all.   It’s either an antenna issue or a squelch or radio issue.  50’ is nothing.  I get 200miles from 50’ of lmr400 and a 20w radio and a good quality antenna.     Gotta go back to basics.   

 The squelch on both radios is set in the middle (5 out of 10)

[BoxCar]

2 minutes ago, adicrosta said:

 

 The squelch on both radios is set in the middle (5 out of 10)

Set your squelch at the lowest level that just eliminates the static. Setting squelch too high means dropped low-level signals. The actual amount of squelch varies from different manufacturers as there's no real standard for the steps.

[marcspaz]

So, I have a similar issue at my house and it is 100% due to terrain and surrounding objects. I have my base antenna at 35+ feet and it's 10 feet tall, running a 60 foot piece of LMR400.

 

There are only a handful of places I can mount my antenna on the roof. If I move the antenna a few feet in any direction, the recieve gets significantly better or worse depending on the other stations I'm trying to reach.  The thing is, I can move my car to a sweet spot and just park it. That really isn't an option for my base antenna. 

 

Sometimes I just sit in the car and use the radio, depending on the station I want to talk to.

[WRWE456]

10 hours ago, adicrosta said:

The antenna on my car is the Luiton 32” Whip Antenna for GMRS and the one on the roof of my house is Ed Fong's DBJ-UHF GMRS base station antenna.

 

[WRYZ926]

Okay so we all missed that one about what antennas he is using. I am leaning towards the cheap Amazon coax being an issue then.