Quote:
Originally Posted by ireilly
The wavelength of AM is measured in miles, FM in feet, so if this transmits on a higher frequency, say microwave like your wireless phones and home networks (802.11-class) it will be shorter still. That means it can pass through smaller apertures but is more easily attenuated for a given power. So it is a case of power and frequency as stated.
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Consumer wireless products are designed to operate around
900 MHz, 2.4GHz, or 5GHz. Mine says it's 915MHz. Which
equates to a little less than a foot.
Try making sure you have the transmitter less that a foot from an opening larger than a foot in your "cage" and see if
that helps.
Also, with fresh batteries (hopefully not rechargable) you should be getting the max power for your transmitter. But
make sure your receiver also has fresh alkaline batteries as
well since it will be able to better amplify the incoming signal that way.
An interesting fact told to me by my RF instructor talks about cell phone towers and a similar phenomenon that you are experiencing.
Many cell phones operate at the 2.4GHz spectrum. This equates to a wave length that closely matches the size of a typical oak tree leaf. During the spring, summer and fall months, cell stations have to boost their output power to take into account the additional loss caused by the attenuation of the signal through these leaves. In the winter, the companies save money by reducing the output power without and impact on customer cell performance.
Now, if they'd only pass along those savings!
Lee