scanner and 2 meter hand held radio with 5 watts

Another thought is that the scanner pulls more power and at a consistent rate than a handheld. If the scanner is plugged in to a wall outlet, it would make sense that it doesn't have a cycle rate like a (at least my) handheld unit has. The reason for this is to preserve power on a mobile unit to expand the life of the charge.

Another thing to think about, does the scanner have a rubber antenna? I am willing to bed the handheld has a "rubber duck" which will hinder the ability to transmit and receive a little bit to enhance ruggedness. This will also make a big difference if there is an exposed metal antenna on the scanner as it would make it much better to pick up transmissions without having it coated in rubber.

Hope this helps.

Stephen

KJ4RAU

There could be two possibilities for this, Your scanner may have more sensitivity or your squelch settings on your radio may be a bit too high.

Just some thoughts

Can your scanner receive on the same frequencies that your handheld uses? If so, I would try putting the scanner and HH on the same freq, near each other, to test reception of that particular repeater. It could be that there's something blocking the signal from that station, not necessarily your radio/antenna that's the problem.

Make sure that your scanner is not set for a sub-audible tone on (CTCSS) on that frequency. If it is that could cause the audio to be muted on that frequency. If your HT has an attenuator setting that may also be interfering with reception.

Does your scanner and HT use the same type of antenna connector? If so, try switching the antennas and see what happens.

What model is your HT? I can look up the settings if you need help to make sure that nothing is configured that would cause it to not receive the signal.

You need a better antenna, it's possible that the scanner has a better receiver or lower squelch break but I bet an after market antenna would help a bit. If your HT has a monitor button hit that when the squelch breaks on the scanner and listen carefully to see if you can hear voices in the static. Keep in mind we are all assuming your HT is functioning correctly, does it receive when you are a bit more close to the repeater? Also, since you mentioned watts I think it's prudent to state that the output (the watts) of your radio has absolutely no correlation to it's ability to receive.