Reception on clear days

[Firefighter57 0]

as it is a very nice day today, i figured id clean my room :angry: and see what happening with the FDNY on my scanner. I turned that bank on and i am just barley getting the Bronx which normally i get the best, forget about the rest of the city . now i see that this is a trend. every nice clear day, i seem to not get very good reception and on snowy, rainy, or cloudy days, i seem to get everything. so the question i pose is does it make a difference what is going on out the window and if it does, why?

[Guest]

Wow, I would assume the complete opposite effect would be had. I always get poor reception with everything on cloudy/stormy days.

[efdny2003 16]

could it be where your scanner is placed, because i've had days where depending where my antenna is placed since its attatched i will get bad reception no matter what the weather. i am getting perfect reception on all my scanners, so other then seeing what happens if you try putting your scanner someplace else, i dont know what you could do.

[Porsha911gt3 8]

When It is nice out, there are no clouds for the Radio Waves to bounce off of. Radio waves of all type rely on clouds to help increase their distance. That is the reason that sometimes you can hear things from across the country, Radio Waves skip across clouds. The moisture in the air also makes the air more dense which has and effect on the distance as well. This is true only to a certain point, after the weather gets bad enough it is really hard to predict what is going to happen especially during storms because of the Ionization of the moisture in the air (I know that goes above some peoples heads but ya gotta find somewhere to use the crap you learn in college). The same properties hold true for wireless internet, on a cloudy damp day the signal travels further.

Edited March 30, 2006 by Porsha911gt3

[cas2383 22]

In my experience low band46.26mhz travels much better during moist/ overcast weather, and high band 400mhz tends to have some trouble during the situation. When ever there is a storm I hear 60 control up in CT if I am here clear as ever sometimes even hearing the units themselves which is a rarity.

[Firefighter57 0]

When It is nice out, there are no clouds for the Radio Waves to bounce off of. Radio waves of all type rely on clouds to help increase their distance. That is the reason that sometimes you can hear things from across the country, Radio Waves skip across clouds.

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to be honest, that is what i was thinking but i wasnt sure. so i guess an undercast or fog wouldnt be very good right? with undercast, its just like a clear day out and fog, wouldnt that deflect the waves away from the ground?

and to efdny....it would be kind of hard to move everything. i have a discone antenna on my roof along with a weather station connected to it . before i got the antenna though, i used to get interference from my computer, pager/charger, and even my cellphone so when i did move it, it would work better.

[CAM502 6]

SKIP is very interesting. Was sitting at work one rainy night and there was a nice front running up and down the east coast. All of a sudden I hear a box assignment come over the radio, with just a slightly different dispatch style. Now here's the weird part, the location they sent out exists in MV and the assignment was the same that we would send for that box!! The only thing that gave it away was the box number was wrong (that and I was sitting in the alarm bureau and knew it wasn't us). A minute or two later they came back on and it turned out to be a dept. in Virginia...I think it was Richmond or something (can't remember right now). And another time we heard a dept from Ohio!! Skip is very interesting.

[IzzyEng4 427]

What you are refering to is propogation, used when DXing distant stations. To learn more about specifics including weather related receiving check out ARRL's web site or check out publication like Popular Communication, Scanning USA or Monitoring Times. They cover scanning in these mag and will help you recevie what you want better. The only boro I don't get up here( I'm west of New Haven) is Staten Island and it depends on the day including which way the wind blows.

For example, Hamden CT and Dix Hills LI both operate on 154.16. My house is closer to Hamden's transmitter which is somewhere's near West Rock Mountian, only 4 mile away. However on a good day, Dix Hills Long Island over powers my reception and I hear them better than Hamden. And that is only using the scanner attenna it comes with. It's pretty amazing how radios act like this and how everything, such as interference from electronics effect it.

Hope those links can help you out getting a better understanding.

[Firefighter57 0]

What you are refering to is propogation, used when DXing distant stations.  To learn more about specifics including weather related receiving check out ARRL's web site or check out publication like Popular Communication, Scanning USA or Monitoring Times.  They cover scanning in these mag and will help you recevie what you want better.  The only boro I don't get up here( I'm west of New Haven) is Staten Island and it depends on the day including which way the wind blows.

Hope those links can help you out getting a better understanding.

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You'd think you would get SI good because staten island is on the same frequency as da bronx...i have the same problem though.

Also does anyone have an explination why i can get yonkers and MV when i live in the "north county" (bedford hills) but i cant get white plains (and i am like 20 mins away)???? thats what i really cant figure out.

[IzzyEng4 427]

You'd think you would get SI good because staten island is on the same frequency as da bronx...i have the same problem though. 

Also does anyone have an explination why i can get yonkers and MV when i live in the "north county" (bedford hills) but i cant get white plains  (and i am like 20 mins away)???? thats what i really cant figure out.

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SI and bronx do share the same frequency but the repeaters / mixers don't work that way where you could hear them. It would cause too much interferrence between the two systems. Plus SI transmitter is in the middle of the island somewhere if I am not mistaken. Being up near New Haven, it is touchy some days I can get Brooklyn and Queens but not Manhattan and the Bronx, or any other combination but no SI. Weather does greatly effect receiving them up here.

[cas2383 22]

The situation you described above also happens with Fairfield FD and Jericho FD Long Island. We have the same frequencies and with a scanner if your near the beach often can hear both. But due to programming of what im assuming to be differentd PLs and repeater set ups with the portable radios and vehicle radios the signals do not cross.