I am using a Rangemaster mounted on a 10 foot pole with a CB whip. I have a short wire conected from the Rangemaster to a hose clamp on the pole. From the base of the pole I have about 10 radials (not enoungh) in vaying lengths from 20 feet to 30 feet. the power output is 100 mW. The usable full quiting range on a car radio is about 1/10 of a mile. With the volume on the radio cranked I can sometimes hear it as far as 1.5 miles but it's pretty bad.
The other day I fired up my Kenwood TS-50 and tuned it to 1610 from my work QTH (3.5 miles away) and naturally could not hear it. Then I switched to CW and tuned off 1610 slightly and low and behold, the was the signal. Not stong but readable. Had I been sending Morse Code it would have been usable.
What kind of usable range do other Rangemaster opeators get? What I mean by usable us easy to listen to without straining or moving you car into the right spot. What is you station configuration?
Having a usable range of only 1/10 mile seems very low. The reason could be any of the following: not properly tuned, ground not as good as it could be, something else on that channel (with no audio), obstructions in the area, frozen ground? or even a faulty unit.
When I tried out my 1st prototype last summer, I received up to 3 miles in my car. I drove around and noticed that the reception was better in some directions compared to others. I was surprised to find that the signal was very clear and strong up to about 2 miles. My unit had built in compression and that did make the sound louder and clearer. If I put my scope on the antenna, I get about 200 volts (even with the loading of the scope probe). It might be useful in your case to see what the voltage ouput is on your Rangemaster antenna.
Gerry
You should be getting much better range than that. At my old location, I was getting a good 1/2 mile or better (full quieting) with the 102" whip and grounded just a single four-foot ground stake into rocky soil. My pattern was somewhat oblong with a strong lobe to the SW and it reached two miles before fading.
Frank
www.easthillradio.com
"The other day I fired up my Kenwood TS-50 and tuned it to 1610 from my work QTH (3.5 miles away) and naturally could not hear it. Then I switched to CW and tuned off 1610 slightly and low and behold, the was the signal. Not stong but readable."
Is it possible that the transmitter is just enough "off-frequency" from where a digital AM tuner tunes for the channel that it's messing up your range?
Daniel
Is it possible that the transmitter is just enough "off-frequency" from where a digital AM tuner tunes for the channel that it's messing up your range?
No. You need to tune off freq to hear a CW tone.
WDCX AM1610 Part 15
John
Owner-Operator-Chief Engineer-Program Manager
John,
With a SSTRAN feeding a horizontal 3m coil loaded antenna IN MY BASEMENT working against a water pipe ground I can hear my signal with a listenable quality about two tenths of a mile away on a mobile radio.
Something at your site might need a bit of tweaking.
Hope this helps.
Neil
John wrote: You need to tune off freq to hear a CW tone.
Not too sure how your receiver operates, but most SW receivers designed to receive CW allow center tuning of the received signal. The tone is produced by the rx "BFO," which is set for an audible frequency offset from the received signal in the rx IF somewhere.
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The TS-50 is a transceiver. So there is a 700 hz offset.
WDCX AM1610 Part 15
John
Owner-Operator-Chief Engineer-Program Manager