just getting into these scanners

[rushhour]

I know this will be a really stupid question to ask but I figured that I might give it a shot since I'm getting into these scanners. Does weather affect the freq? Like will you hear more or less from your scanner if it is raining or snowing?

Thanks,

John

[typesix]

I find that rain will sometimes improve reception. Windy days are bad for reception, with some normally strong signals popping in and out of the squelch. Most of my listening is to the 470 mhz area used by the local transit agency.

[Ken W2KB]

In theory, rain or snow ought to attentuate the signals at UHF. Odd that you experience improvement. Moist ground will help HF signals, generally.

The wind ought not to affect very strong signals. I could see tree branch/leaf movement affecting weaker signals. Interesting.

[rushhour]

Thanks guys.

John

[oldrails]

I have also found that on windy days with all the trees moving, UHF signal strength goes up and down. It doesn't take much to reflect a UHF signal and when it's windy and things are moving the signal strength changes quite a bit.

The only other thing that I have noticed is that when a storm is moving between my receiver and the NOAA wx radio station that I am listening to the signal is sometimes attenuated quite a bit.

If you have a temperature inversion you will notice that vhf signals will be reflected and will travel much further than normal. You may start picking up signals 2 or three times the normal distance. Maybe even more depending on how good the propagation enhancement is.

I believe that you would have to start taking rain fade into effect when you get up to 2.4 gHz and higher. Not a problem in the VHF/low UHF range.