MR> TW> So my 2 Meter Handheld NOR my Radio Shack scanner with it's stubby
MR> TW> antenna shouldn't really wrok then. That simply is not the case.

MR>Any receiver with a sensitivity of 0.5 microvolts could probably hear
MR>a local transmission even it it didn't have an antenna. It is merely
MR>substituting antenna gain for receiver gain. In either case there is
MR>some form of ground being supplied to the 2 M handheld and the R/S
MR>scanner. It may not be a good ground but the receiver gain compensates
MR>for that to a point. The huge amount of AGC in these is not a fair
MR>comparison with a simple crystal radio and doesn't shed any light on
MR>the matter at hand.

But in a hand held it is nothing more then a common circuit card trace
typicaly. And since it is a handheld it is floating. Isin't that about
the equilivent of NO ground?
Which you have pointed out can be somewhat made up for by Reciever gain.

MR>This brings up another solution for our weather radio lacking in gain
MR>problem: add a preamp so we can forget about the antenna and ground.

In this case I think that is out because of money restraints. And he
cound be like a friend of mine living in a hole where weere any VHF/UHF
receptiopn form some directions is very limited.
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 þ SLMR 2.1a þ This note from El Cajon California USA