Herb: Back when there was still a lot of analog cellular, the cell carriers
had a lot of transmitter noise that pretty much wiped out rcvrs in the land
mobile band, 901-902, and, being a ham, I looked at how it did in the
902-904 range. Still pretty potent at 902, but was falling off rapidly. I
forget the exact numbers. I was working as a consultant to a land mobile
operator, and we got many of the cell carriers to clean up their act. We
actually had one of the carriers tell us we shouldn't expect to hear
signals weaker than -80 dBm (in 15 kHz channel)!! I expect things have
cleaned up quite a bit over the last 10-15 years, so 902 may work well in
areas where it didn't before. While this doesn't help you, it may help
explain why the issue exists. Sounds like you are not being bothered by on
frequency noise, but strong signals above 903. Any idea what they are?
--Mike WV2ZOW
On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 12:12 PM, Herb Krumich <wa2fgk@yahoo.com> wrote:
> For several years, our contest station has been having a real issue
> operating the 903 mhz band. This band five years ago was racking up around
> twenty grids for our station with contacts consistently as far as 400
> miles.
> We converted our transverter with a switch to either operate 903 or 902.
> But I never realized the filter I was using had tremendous cut offs down
> from the 903 band. That is now being taken care of.
> I was able to check into the Pack Rats net last evening with a fairly
> quiet 902.100 .
> My question to everyone is what areas of the country are still operating
> 903. From our location in the Pocono Mountains of Pa. FN21, it's impossible
> to operate there. I need to add more cut-off on my cavity filter above 902
> and when doing so, I will not be able to hear signals on 903.
> Thanks for your input
> Herb K2LNS
> Stn mgr for the WA2FGK location
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