New to Scanning - Few Questions

[LewisW296]

Hello All!

Firstly thank you for allowing me to become a member of the forum. I have had a scanner now for about 6 months and had no problem with grabbing some chatter by EGFF. I have now, run into a few issues I cannot figure out.

1. Certain frequencies will suddenly just transmit static. This is most common on a few of the UHF Military (particularly Shanwick) and a few specific Airway frequencies. Usually Strumble and Alvin but I do get valid transmissions (chatter for flight levels etc) when I'm out and about. I never seem to get anything but static transmissions on the High and Low lands end frequency. Any thoughts on how to resolve this?

2. I recently programmed in 2 frequencies for a local cab company, Heritage Cabs, found on the WTR. One was in the 82Mhz range and the other in 73Mhz range. I have always seemed to get bursts of static on here but in a morse code like sound. This happens with 5 bars of signal in both my home near Llantwit Major, in Barry (13 miles away) and in Cardiff. I do not have a clue what this frequency really is. Any advisories on that?

3. Sometimes I get transmissions as clear as day, specifically the Coast Guard repeater from Milford Haven but extremely poor signal from ships in the Bristol Channel. In fairness, the ship WAS having an ingress of water (my favorite scanner adventure to date!) but I've also noticed it on another local cab company where I can only occasionally here the drivers and never the dispatch. I have programmed both the RX and TX found on the WTR Licence for this company however. And when I do hear the drivers, they are always very quiet in comparison to AM transmissions.

Any help and guidance would be amazing as I am really loving this hobby. My current scanner is a Uniden 125XLT with the standard rubber ducky. I also use Scan 125 software for programming, courtesy of stalking this forum for awhile.

Many thanks,
Lewis.

[m0lsx]

1. This could be any number of things. Maybe a weak signal just lifting the static level a little. A local interference source your radio is picking up, or maybe some digital data? Without hearing it, it really is hard to day. But it is something we all get.

2. WTR is not exactly ideal for getting frequencies from at time. Sometimes it's great. But at others the data is outdated & it depends where you get the frequencies from. On some parts of the site, they give you band edges, not the centre frequency.
It sounds like you are getting digital data.

3. The main frequency you are hearing strongest as it is a better antenna in a better location & at time also a lot more powerful than the mobile station.
If you listen to you amateur radio repeater you will some operators say. Or hopefully will hear some operator say. I can hear you on the input, shall we go simplex?
Mobile stations are always considered to be harder to hear than a base station.

[LewisW296]

The WTR frequencies I've lifted are for the most part, recent licence dates. I also thought digital was limited to frequencies in the 456Mhz range? It did cross my mind, could it be a pager?

[G4RMT]

It's rare(er) to find digital in low band -below 88MHz, but you do need to be aware that because of how most radios work, it is possible that a very local and strong transmitter pops up apparently in places it really isn't! I have a local data transmitter on 153MHz, that makes an appearance on on 145, 156, and 460MHz - It's a hazard of designing a radio that can hear lots of things. Commercial radios have lots of filtering top prevent it, and scanners often don't!

With the cabs - if you hear the drivers, they're usually on the higher of the frequency pair, and the office on the lower one, so you probably hear them when they are near you, but the office is out of range. Remember that rubber duck aerial is the worst kind of aerial for efficiency, but the best for size and convenience. Distance is everything in radio.

[milly]

2 - Hearing something like morse on cab frequencies is very strange. Far more likely to be hearing Auriga/Autocab data (far more taxi firms use data or cellphones than use voice radio nowadays).

3 - If you never hear the dispatch but sometimes hear weak transmissions from the drivers it seems likely that you are in a bit of a dead spot. Get your aerial higher or away from whatever is blocking it....is the taxi office quite a distance from you?

People will try to help but without knowing more about the location of your aerial in relation to the things you are trying to listen to then only very general observations are possible.

[Minus1]

1. Certain frequencies will suddenly just transmit static. This is most common on a few of the UHF Military (particularly Shanwick)

I think you are mixing up Shanwick (which is a merge of Shannon and Prestwick) with Swanwick which is the village in Hampshire near to where the NATS HQ is located, and used as the callsign for military ATC based there.

Some of us might have considered than "Swanwick" was a bloody stupid name to choose for military ATC, given the existence of "Shanwick" — in order to avoid such confusion; but this did not appear to occur to NATS.

If NATS had any imagination, we might have had something like "Boudica Mil".

Still, at least the RAF use "Hotspur" and "Blackdog"

Nobody transmit "static", so whatever you think it is you are hearing, it is not "static".

[Minus1]

Hello All!
I've also noticed it on another local cab company where I can only occasionally here the drivers and never the dispatch. I have programmed both the RX and TX found on the WTR Licence for this company however. And when I do hear the drivers, they are always very quiet in comparison to AM transmissions.
.

You don't say what frequency(s) you're talking about.
If they are simplex, mobiles will obviously vary, but base reception will depend upon where the base is relative to you.

If they are a base/mobile pair:
Mobile transmissions are lower power than base stations, and are more likely to be blocked by hills and buildings.
Base transmissions will be higher power and on a hill or a building so will always have a coverage that is equal to or better than the mobiles.
If you can't hear the base I have to wonder whether you have input the correct frequencies.