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[Brandt]

I have a w800usb in the garage and an unknown length of a mix of RG59 and RG6 cable ran up to the attic above the second floor where the antenna that came with it is mounted nearly above the center of the home.

I started having problems a week ago getting inactive sensor alerts from my security sensors and ms14a's failing to update their dusk setting which in turn made scripts to turn on lights at night fail, etc...

Over the weekend I went back up into the attic and realized where I put it was very near a metal exhaust duct of some sort, which I think might have been causing the problems.

I then moved the antenna another six feet or so away from the duct and the errors seem to go away.

Now there is only one ms14a I am having problems with and It is the farthest away from the antenna, near the entrance walkway to the house to turn on the front door lights as guests arrive any time during dark hours. It is also mounted very near the front metal gate. I am wondering would the metal gate affect it's transmitting abilities? Could certain weather affect transmissions?


Would this antenna improve reception from further located sensors?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103641


I'd prefer to not have to do the passive radiator hack if I don't have to.

[Brian H]

There was a mention of a Radio Shack antenna in another CM15A mod thread.
Not sure if anyone actually was using it or asking opinions.
http://forums.x10.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=r7jdfhd1qu3rmbo1s3j7k6r6d3&topic=19959.0

It definitely will receive the X10 310MHz signal.

It has an SO239 cable connector on it so you would have to rework the F connector on the antenna end of the cable or find {if made have not checked} a Female F to PL259 adapter.

[Brandt]

I was going to pick one up on my lunch break but I decided to wait.

I should stand out there with a palm pad and see if it can receive those signals from the same location. It may be just that the batteries are too weak? Who knows...

[Brandt]

Here is a convincing thread:   http://www.thevirtualcrib.com/phpbbdir/viewtopic.php?p=2771&sid=7e2639f3c70c580c0eab2c709fa3fe23#2771


They recommend the adapter:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103322

[Brian H]

From what they found in the thread. It sounds good.
I was not sure if Radio Shack would have the F to PL259 adapter. Glad you also found its part number.

If you get it I am sure we will get a report that may benefit all of us.

[Brandt]

Do big metal gates, or satellite dishes interfere with the 310mhz rf signals?

[dave w]

Do big metal gates, or satellite dishes interfere with the 310mhz rf signals?

Not unless the motion sensor is attached to them

[Brandt]

well the nifty radio shack antenna w/ adapter barely worked at all for me with my setup. However once I am able to replace some of the RG59 cable in it's path and shorten it's path, I maybe get better results. But for now I am sticking with the short whip antenna that came with it.

[Brandt]

like the xtbm is for x10 signals, are there any affordable coax cable testers and RF signal strength testers out there?

[Brian H]

Do you have a multimeter?
Will not give 100% but you can do some tests with one.

Diagram from the antenna is vague on if it has any tuning coil on it. I don't think it does.

So with the antenna  disconnected. The ohms reading between the center and shell should be infinite at the receiver end. Unless you are holding both probes with your fingers. Then you may read your bodies resistance.

If you short the center to the shell at the antenna end. You should get a fairly low reading at the receiver end.

Then screw the connector into the antenna and again read the receiver end.

[Brandt]

I just can't seem to pickup 'that one' ms14a near the front of the house...it's driving me nuts...maybe I'll have to try the passive radiator trick on the ms14a itself...

[Brandt]

Well I finally ran a straight shot of 50ft of RG6 through the walls and floors to the radio shack antenna and it works great!  I must say, that the shack antenna is much more sensitive to differences in the cable where before I had a mix of RG6 and RG58/59 in the cable run and it didn't work at all, while the whip antenna worked fine. I can't say however that this antenna is leaps and bounds ahead of the whip antenna. I would say whatever works for you all because there are so many different factors involves. Trial and error I guess...

[Brandt]

ugh this drives me nuts....So now that I got the outside front entry way ms14a to get picked up by the antenna....The DS10a in the same area just inside the house now does not get picked up when it sends it's heartbeat signal every 4 hours.

Current setup when this is happening is 50ft of RG6 with the radio shack antenna.

[Charles Sullivan]

ugh this drives me nuts....So now that I got the outside front entry way ms14a to get picked up by the antenna....The DS10a in the same area just inside the house now does not get picked up when it sends it's heartbeat signal every 4 hours.

Current setup when this is happening is 50ft of RG6 with the radio shack antenna.

Have you tried just mounting the antenna as high in the room as possible with the 12 ft cable supplied with the W800?  I've been told that losses in cables longer than about 15 feet generally offset any gains from higher mounting.

[Brandt]

My server is located in the garage, and the garage has no rafters only finished ceilings and of course it is in the extreme front of the house so the RF signals from the back of the house were not getting to it when i was using the 12ft cable and the stock antenna. I'd say everything works pretty good right now except the one DS10a heartbeat so I guess I can live with that, but I wish I understood RF better. The DS10a is on the far side of the chimney so I wonder if the bricks absorb some signal or block it not sure. Anyway I guess I'm going to try the passive radiator with copper foil tape trick, or maybe relocate the ds10a transmitter.

I'm sure i'll get it eventually, but this RF stuff is mysterious to me.