Hi Lets say one of you are at a building top 50ft the other is in a mobile with hand held and outside antenna. So at 50 ft height the radio horizon is about 13.5 miles. That is about how far you should be able to talk to your truck, assuming not to much stuff in the way like buildings etc. If there is lots of obstructions then you may only see about 7.3 miles or so. Yeah, something is wrong if you only get a mile or so. Also, when you go to use a repeater your signal is going more upwards toward the repeater antenna that is higher than the surrounding obstructions, no "stuff" in the way so your signal get there easier. Hope this helps Toby WPVP844 / N5SIM