WRXU861

A little update on my station: I switched back and forth between my 40 watt and my 20 watt (actually 15 watts) with nearly zero differences in capability. There's a huge difference between the 5w handheld and the 20w, but very little between the 20w and the 40w.

I'm using a 40 watt radio with 50 ft of RG 213. Moving my antenna high enough to get a clear line of sight made all the difference. Turns out, I was misreading the line of sight graph. Now, I can carry on clear conversations with all the repeaters within my local area.

The problem was the antenna height. My SWR is really good and I'm using 50 ft of RG213. I moved the antenna up from around 9 feet to around 15 feet. Now, I'm reliably getting through the repeater around 30 miles away. There's a little static, but just enough to remind me that I'm on a radio.

That's innovative. I went a different way with the tuning, though and got my right around 1.05. Today, I raised my antenna by about six feet, which greatly improved the situation. Turns out, the line of sight tool shows a green line of sight even if there's some topography in the way. The extra six feet cleared things up. Sometime over the next few weeks, I'm going to move it up another 10 or 15 feet. -Steve

My new base radio arrived earlier this week, and I set it up with a home-made copper pipe J pole and RG 213 coax. I'm able to hear my local repeaters very clearly and have carried on a few conversations across a repeater that's about 30 miles away. Unfortunately, most other operators can't seem to hear me very well. Sometimes, they can, but not always. I've already set my antenna up where it has clear line of sight according to https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/, but it could always be higher. I've also made sure I'm using wide band, but my voice seems to be hit and miss over the repeater. If anyone has suggestions about how to make things better, please let me know. -Steve WRXU861

My situation changed a little today. Yesterday, I built a J pole out of 1/2 inch copper pipe. Today, I tuned it and took it outside. With good line of sight and a Radioddity GM-30, I was able to reach a repeater about 30 miles away. The people on the other end had a bit of trouble understanding me, but they were able to understand my call sign. More power should make the problem go away. We'll see what happens when my base radio finally gets delivered. -Steve WRXU861

Just like anywhere on the internet, there are jerks on here that should be ignored. I'd like to add that I've run into a similar issue. After checking the tones and the other potential causes that people have already listed, I realized my issue was from a lack of power. My little 5w handheld can hear a repeater from 30 miles, but doesn't have enough power to talk to it. You may or may not have the same issue. My base station radio is on its way by UPS and rated at 40w. Once I get it up and running, I'll be able to test my theory. -Steve WRXU861