RE: bc785d

How close to any mountaintop repeaters are you?  You might be getting
bleed from them or the scanner's front end is being overloaded(this
would be the case if you're near a transmitter site) Actually, if you're
on top of a mountain, you don't even have to be close to another
transmitter site, since you're so high up.. A site on a peak 20 miles
away can be devastating to your scanner. 

I've dealt with this situation before. If you can borrow a step
attenuator, put it in line and start from maybe 8db and work up until
the offending stuff disappears and you can still hear the desired
signals. Then buy a pre-made inline attenuator of the same value (or
close as you can get) and put it in place. The scanner's attenuator
doesn't do the same job. It may state it is 10db, but in my experience
it's ineffective compared to what a real one will do.  I had great
success with what I described.

If you are good at soldering, I can tell you how to build an attenuator
(once you know the value) with some resistors and some connectors.  I
made my last one with a resistor network and some connectors mounted
into an Altoid's breath mint tin. Works great.

You can also get BNC attenuators that are male on one end and female on
the other end of a wide range of pre-set values. This is the most
compact installation.

If you can't borrow a step-attenuator(expensive), I'd just start to make
one they way I did, start with 10db and work up.

I assume you're monitoring VHF stuff. Or do you scan all different
bands? If you're pretty much confined to a specific band you may be able
to notch filter the crap out if you determine its in another band or in
the same band but far away within the band. This would be expensive
however.

How does it work with the built in antenna on the scanner? Sometimes
putting a great antenna system in place invites way too much signal in
and causes this situation. That's why repeaters on mountains need so
much filtering. Maybe 'dumbing' down your receiving system will
eliminate this stuff while still being able to pick up what you want. 

Also, try moving the antenna on your property and try different spots.

Sean
W6PIX


-----Original Message-----
From: kobaltblu2004 [mailto:kobaltblu2004-/[email protected]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 5:13 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [UnidenBC785D] bc785d




I have a BC785D and a VHF outdoor antenna and live basically on a 
moutain. My problem is interference. For example if the scanner stops 
on a frequency in the background you can hear pagers and other noise 
sometimes the attenuator works sometimes it dont does anyone know what 
I can do?








If you have come here to find out about the 785D you have come to the
right place! In fact the discussion of the BC-785D and how it works is
the only acceptable topic on this list. Any discussion about anything
other than the BC-785D is OFF TOPIC. I hope this is clear to all group
members..