Radio scanning is one hobby that is pretty exciting, you can relax while listening to the SSB communication in HF receiver, or monitor Airband through SDR in laptop, listening to FM radio broadcast from a neighbour town, listen to local VHF communication via 2m HT, watch the football through UHF TV broadcasts, capturing digital TV stations via satellite dish, etc.. all these activities can be disrupted when you receive a weak signal.
Here are three tips that will help you to be able to receive the signal with the highest quality:
1. Use an external antenna (outdoor antenna)
for UHF TV antenna, You can look for the reference through search engines. I will discuss antenna on HT and scanners, which are designed for portability and receive the radio signal in limited range. radio communication that is often used to work on the VHF high band 136-174 MHz or 430-470 MHz UHF low band. Most people, are more likely to gather in one of these bands. (If you live in a big city, public frequency bands may have migrated to 800 MHz.)
An antenna that specializes in one of the bands, such as the 155-160 MHz Land Mobile and Scanners J-Pole antenna or 462 MHz GMRS and Land Mobile antenna is an excellent choice for a reception in the second band. The J-Pole antenna has a low noise floor and wide bandwidth, so it will be very good for capturing signal VHF and UHF.
The external antenna should be mounted outside the room to be truly effective. The best place to put an antenna on the roof of your house or mounted on a pole with 10 or 20 feet planted on the ground can also be attached to the fence posts. If the location is not suitable, (maybe you live in dense communities), placing the antenna in the attic would be a good solution.
UHF to VHF frequencies and above, the antenna should be mounted in an LOS (Line of Sight) to the transmitter station.
2. Consider to add a aerial signal booster, masthead antenna preamp, or booster antenna
Once you have the antenna mounted on the outside, and hope to be able to receive radio signals from at least 20-30 miles away, perhaps even more if they use high-powered repeater system. But what if you want the signal still comes in weak signal? A signal booster (antenna preamp / booster antenna) can be a good solution.
try to see some related posts below as a reference:
>> Improve radio pocket AM / FM / SW reception sensitivity (Part 2) 3. Replace your feedline cable One of the biggest mistakes in order to receive signals with high quality is to use a cheap cable feedline. high quality coaxial cable feedline is expensive, while our society tends to look for the cheapest price. feedline cable commonly used for TV is feeder 300 ohm and 75 ohm coaxial cable, but for amateur radio communications typically use a 50 ohm coaxial cable. feedline cable type you use can make a huge difference to the quality of the received signal. How do you know what type of feedline to use? First measure the length of your feedline, if you use very long cables then you should use a cable that has a signal loss per meter is smaller. This means you must use quality cables and of course more expensive. Next consider the working frequencies, VHF or UHF does. using the correct type of cable feedline makes a huge difference in the quality of the received signal.
With these three simple steps, you will be on the appropriate steps to improve the quality and range of the radio signal scanner, SDR, TV, and FM radio.