I hate to ask for a remote diagnosis here, but I'm at a loss. My signal quality seems to be just as good running through the antenna as it is with nothing but an empty cable (no, I did not do that one deliberately
).
Here's what I have installed:
- Yaesu FTM350 radio
- Diamond NR770HB antenna
- Diamond C213 NMO mount
- Diamond CX-210N coaxial switch
Here's how I have it installed: I have the cable run up to the roof from the radio where it is hooked up to the switch box. One side of the switch box's output goes to the NMO mount on which the NR770 antenna resides. The other side of the switch goes to a UHF jack so that I can just plug in my Elk antenna and flip the switch for longer range comms.
Testing was done by hooking up the Elk pointed at Keller and listening in, but I do not know if there was just no traffic, or if my wiring is bad. I did not want to risk keying-up to ask for a signal report at full power on an unproven install, so I decided to test further locally.
Further testing was done by having Dani drive her truck down to the mail box (3/4ths of a mile?) with her known-good radio setup to see how reception was each way. I was able to hear her signal on low power crystal clear the entire time. She was able to hear me good on low power at about 100 yards, not so good at about 500 yards, and just barely at high power (50 watts) from the mail box. Thinking I just had the switch box in the wrong setting (it did not come with a manual
) I flipped the switch and tried again, with the same results.
Here's where I get confused, I'm 99% sure the new connections I made today are good. I soldered them in place (high quality silver solder) and they are not short circuited. The only other connections were made in the factory by Diamond and Yaesu... so I'm pretty sure they are good. I've double-checked the coax - no pinching or fraying going on.
Thoughts from those a bit more experienced with this stuff than I?
