i have a imax 2000.. plz help.

[loosecannon]

short legs,

the only thing i can think of is that your mobile antenna is not as close to whatever is causing your interference as your base antenna is.

where and how is the imax mounted?
how high up in the air is the base of the antenna?

what objects are near it? (within 20-50 or so feet)

i think its time to find a little battery powered AM radio, tune it to where there is just static and no radio stations coming in, and walk around the area of your antenna; pointing the radio at everything you can think of.

hopefully you will zero in on something that, as you get closer to it, the noise in the radio increases to the point that you can tell what is causing it.

if its something owned by the power company, the telephone company, or the cable company; then you call them and tell them about the problem.

it may take a few phone calls, but it is their responsibility to fix these problems quickly.

if it turns out to be your neighbor's house, well then you've got to be very nice and hopefully you know them well enough to find out what it is in their house that is causing your problems.

as for having a bad antenna, i guess its possible, but the other causes are more probable.
how is your SWR?
try shaking the antenna around and see if the noise stays constant or changes with the movement of the antenna.
if your SWR is good and the noise stays constant when the antenna moves around, chances are its ok.

happy hunting!
LC

 

[WA2FDU]

By any chance is the coax feed and or antenna near the power feed to the house and electric meter??

Stephen

 

[SHORT_LEGS]

short legs,

the only thing i can think of is that your mobile antenna is not as close to whatever is causing your interference as your base antenna is.

where and how is the imax mounted?
how high up in the air is the base of the antenna?

what objects are near it? (within 20-50 or so feet)

i think its time to find a little battery powered AM radio, tune it to where there is just static and no radio stations coming in, and walk around the area of your antenna; pointing the radio at everything you can think of.

hopefully you will zero in on something that, as you get closer to it, the noise in the radio increases to the point that you can tell what is causing it.

if its something owned by the power company, the telephone company, or the cable company; then you call them and tell them about the problem.

it may take a few phone calls, but it is their responsibility to fix these problems quickly.

if it turns out to be your neighbor's house, well then you've got to be very nice and hopefully you know them well enough to find out what it is in their house that is causing your problems.

as for having a bad antenna, i guess its possible, but the other causes are more probable.
how is your SWR?
try shaking the antenna around and see if the noise stays constant or changes with the movement of the antenna.
if your SWR is good and the noise stays constant when the antenna moves around, chances are its ok.

happy hunting!
LC

my antenna is mounted on 2 10 ft poles it is mounted on the pole with the brackets that came with it i have the poles next to my deck which is about 8ft from the house.. the base of the antenna is about 18ft off the ground..i have had it up about a year or so i didnt have any of the noise until about 6 months ago..

By any chance is the coax feed and or antenna near the power feed to the house and electric meter??

Stephen

no its not close to the power feed to the house or the electric meter

 

[Robb]

Is it near a cable box?
If a cable box is leaky, your RF can get in - and so can the RF leaking from the cable get into your receive - if I remember correctly.

You might take the antenna down and inspect it - not a bad idea.
Checked the SWR lately?

Might be a cable company issue - if it started 6 months ago...

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

have you checked to make sure the coax is still securely atteched to the antenna ?

 

[SHORT_LEGS]

Is it near a cable box?
If a cable box is leaky, your RF can get in - and so can the RF leaking from the cable get into your receive - if I remember correctly.

You might take the antenna down and inspect it - not a bad idea.
Checked the SWR lately?

Might be a cable company issue - if it started 6 months ago...

no its not near the cable box.. i think im going to take tha antenna down later this week to sheck it out..

have you checked to make sure the coax is still securely atteched to the antenna ?

yes it is securely atteched to the antenna

 

[CDX-007]

Well I read this entire strand and nowhere could I find anything referring to whether or not you still heard stations above the noise, or if noise is ALL YOU HEAR.

If all you have is noise and ZERO signals, you have either a coax or antenna problem.
I'd guess the center lead of the coax is either shorted or open and not making it to the antenna, and probably at the top connection.

If possible, try another length of coax, simply check both ends for continuity when disconnected from the antenna, ground to ground, center to center, nothing across from ground to center - hopefully.

...or just redo both connectors correctly and that may rectify your issue.

 

[SHORT_LEGS]

Well I read this entire strand and nowhere could I find anything referring to whether or not you still heard stations above the noise, or if noise is ALL YOU HEAR.

If all you have is noise and ZERO signals, you have either a coax or antenna problem.
I'd guess the center lead of the coax is either shorted or open and not making it to the antenna, and probably at the top connection.

If possible, try another length of coax, simply check both ends for continuity when disconnected from the antenna, ground to ground, center to center, nothing across from ground to center - hopefully.

...or just redo both connectors correctly and that may rectify your issue.

no i dont hear any stations unless they are within a 1/2 mile from me to get over the noise.. im looking to buy some good coax what would be the best to get?

 

[CDX-007]

Either Cable Xperts 1318 or Times Microwave LMR400.

Go with the UF if you need it to be flexible.

-->> Stay clear of the copper-coated aluminum center LMR400 counterfeit, the aluminum expandes at a faster rate than does copper and when hot will develop fractures in the copper coating, causing a real F-UP in the velocity factor / impedance.

 

[mackmobile43]

Either Cable Xperts 1318 or Times Microwave LMR400.

Go with the UF if you need it to be flexible.

-->> Stay clear of the copper-coated aluminum center LMR400 counterfeit, the aluminum expandes at a faster rate than does copper and when hot will develop fractures in the copper coating, causing a real F-UP in the velocity factor / impedance.

........................................................................................ The Penetrator beat the I-10K by as much as 2 full S-units at 90 miles! ...until I changed coax.

Amazing how much something as unexpected as a crappy length of coax can bias a comparison.

As I stated before; Same mast, placement, coax & radio are necessary for a fair comparison!

- Now that I've removed a defective length of coax, they seem to provide similar performance.



I seriously doubt that 2 S-units is attainable at 90 miles let alone 2 more, get real.

 

[CDX-007]

........................................................................................ The Penetrator beat the I-10K by as much as 2 full S-units at 90 miles! ...until I changed coax.

Amazing how much something as unexpected as a crappy length of coax can bias a comparison.

As I stated before; Same mast, placement, coax & radio are necessary for a fair comparison!

- Now that I've removed a defective length of coax, they seem to provide similar performance.



I seriously doubt that 2 S-units is attainable at 90 miles let alone 2 more, get real.

Certainly! We were on SSB and though I'm only 150' ASL, Rich 149 is above 2100' ASL, which makes all the difference.
I believe he was using a Galaxy Saturn Turbo, but I can't remember for certain if that's his particular version of the big black rack mount radio.

He has given me my best signal report of S-8 when everything is up as high as I like it. No amplifier.

73

 

[W5LZ]

I really hate to tell you this, but 'ASL' means very, very little to your antenna, or to general performance. 'AGL', Above Ground Level, can make a big difference in antenna performance -and- performance in general.
ASL is a comparative measurement of height against a know level. It's used because of how things were measured using common measuring devices. If point 'A' is 'x' number of feet above sea level and point 'B' is 'y' number of feet above see level, their comparative height is the difference between 'x' and 'y'. And when speaking about something like RF, you get to play with all the different levels of things between point 'A' and 'B'.
I wish it were as simple as just 'ASL', it'd sure make things easier!
- 'Doc

 

[CDX-007]

I really hate to tell you this, but 'ASL' means very, very little to your antenna, or to general performance. 'AGL', Above Ground Level, can make a big difference in antenna performance -and- performance in general.
ASL is a comparative measurement of height against a know level. It's used because of how things were measured using common measuring devices. If point 'A' is 'x' number of feet above sea level and point 'B' is 'y' number of feet above see level, their comparative height is the difference between 'x' and 'y'. And when speaking about something like RF, you get to play with all the different levels of things between point 'A' and 'B'.
I wish it were as simple as just 'ASL', it'd sure make things easier!
- 'Doc

Well, Mack-the-Rock was challenging the accuracy of my signal report because of the distance. Knowing that Rick is not also ~sea level, but 2000' higher, tends to help explain why I would have such a decent signal at that distance.

I suppose I could have simply written, "Rich is in the hills at over two thousand feet, that's why he hears me down here in this pathetically low hole of a valley so well."

 

[mackmobile43]

Well, Mack-the-Rock was challenging the accuracy of my signal report because of the distance. Knowing that Rick is not also ~sea level, but 2000' higher, tends to help explain why I would have such a decent signal at that distance.

I suppose I could have simply written, "Rich is in the hills at over two thousand feet, that's why he hears me down here in this pathetically low hole of a valley so well."

I still call bullshit cause Rich is behind hills taller than his antenna so your line of site theory is as such and seeing how vertical antennas have very low gain you have many holes to plug in this bucket.

Now if both of you had 7 element beams now that might sound more believable.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

I seriously doubt that 2 S-units is attainable at 90 miles let alone 2 more, get real.

if were talking cb meters its very possible . they are not at all accurate and can vary greatly from radio to radio . when i went from my home brew 1/4 wgp to the 5/8 i had folks reporting up to 4 1/2 more s-units signal strength improvement .

from what i understand a 1/4 wgp and a dipole have the same gain and a 5/8 wgp has a little less than 1 1/2 db of gain over the 1/4 wave . and (broken record) 1 s-unit of gain = 6 db . my 5/8 certianly didnt have 27 db of gain over the 1/4 wave , but it really showed me how innacurate s-meters can be .

we do the best we can with what we have and even though our cb radio s-meters cant give a truly accurate reading , they can give us an indicator of more or less signal . we just need to be aware that its numbers are more or less meaningless .

a lot of different reflections can come in and out of play at 90 miles affecting the strength of our signal at the other end too .