LeoG Posted October 30 Report Posted October 30 I've programmed my TD-H3 radio to listen in on the nearby airport. Can be interesting at times. Currently at my house, behind the small hill it's just static. If I put it on my base antenna it's perfect. I can hear the tower and all the airplanes responding. My shop is 1/2 mile from the airport and I'm in a metal building. I keep the radio in the window using a Nagoya 771G antenna and I can hear the tower and some of the planes. Mostly the planes are just hash and not understandable. Is getting an antenna tuned to 120MHz really going to do anything for my reception? It would be in the same place, in the window. I keep it there and I can hear the 3 repeaters I use (7, 17, 21 miles away). I find it very interesting being 1/2 mile away from the airport and not able to hear the airplanes where I can hear them at my house which is another 2 miles away. Quote
SteveShannon Posted October 30 Report Posted October 30 3 minutes ago, LeoG said: I've programmed my TD-H3 radio to listen in on the nearby airport. Can be interesting at times. Currently at my house, behind the small hill it's just static. If I put it on my base antenna it's perfect. I can hear the tower and all the airplanes responding. My shop is 1/2 mile from the airport and I'm in a metal building. I keep the radio in the window using a Nagoya 771G antenna and I can hear the tower and some of the planes. Mostly the planes are just hash and not understandable. Is getting an antenna tuned to 120MHz really going to do anything for my reception? It would be in the same place, in the window. I keep it there and I can hear the 3 repeaters I use (7, 17, 21 miles away). I find it very interesting being 1/2 mile away from the airport and not able to hear the airplanes where I can hear them at my house which is another 2 miles away. A radio in a window will have a narrower field of view than the base antenna on the roof (presumably) at your house. Getting a tuned antenna might help some, but getting an antenna up on the roof of your shop will be more likely to do the trick. At that range it doesn’t have to be high gain, in fact it’s probably better if it’s not a very high gain antenna. Quote
LeoG Posted October 30 Author Report Posted October 30 I can see the planes. I'm just shocked at how it's limited. The 21 mile repeater is in the direction of the window. The 17 mile repeater is on the opposite side of the building. The other thing I was shocked about is it's AM and not FM. I had to turn the AM option on my radio for those frequencies to show up. Quote
Davichko5650 Posted October 30 Report Posted October 30 24 minutes ago, LeoG said: The other thing I was shocked about is it's AM and not FM. I had to turn the AM option on my radio for those frequencies to show up. Has been AM pretty much from the start for Aero. No Capture affect so everything can get through. You'd think hearing the aircraft wouldn't be an issue other than if they're behind the window location and signals are blocked, since they have pretty good LOS being airborne. I work about 1/2 mile from a semi busy City airport. Not a main terminal but lots of GA and Biz Jets, as well air Army NG Helo's and get pretty good signals on a rubber duck. But it's not a metal building for the most part... SteveShannon 1 Quote
LeoG Posted October 30 Author Report Posted October 30 Ya, I live in and work in faraday cages. My shop is a metal building and my house has aluminum siding. Walking into either and all signals fade. Both house and shop have cell phone boosters so I can have a cell signal. In the shop the signal is better than it is outside. It's not that way at my house. Quote
Davichko5650 Posted October 30 Report Posted October 30 1 hour ago, LeoG said: Ya, I live in and work in faraday cages. My shop is a metal building and my house has aluminum siding. I feel ya - I used to work inside a metal Trailer parked inside a metal building. Our base radios had nice Yagi's pointed at the main receive site of our UHF NXDN repeater so that was all good, but to use one of the HT's, either open the garage doors or run outside! Current employer we piggyback 900 mhz HT's on the ARMER system the county uses and we get coverage no matter where we are in the city. My house is stucco, so wire mesh, but all my antennae are outside and up high above the roof. SteveShannon 1 Quote
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