WSEL330

Yeah, yeah and use lag bolts with construction glue! lol

If we are going that far....braze a plate down.

Thank you for the reply. To clarify, The question is not about 'Why ham' and more about joining the ARRL. I enjoy this hobby as well as GMRS (I'm bought in for both in more ways than one). Thank you for your perspective. I 100% agree and feel the exact same way: "I'm getting into it because I think the antenna theory stuff is neat and POTA sounds like fun. It's more of a hobby thing than the stash of GMRS radios I use to actually talk to people in my group."

Why join the ARRL. Pro's and Con's. Honest feedback please. I do see some of both but being new, I don't wanna get into something that turns into the treadmill or breadmaker in the garage.

foliage punch is what I was looking for. Now I will work on better coax, verify quality of connectors and connections, upgrade the antennas. OF COURSE, I am new and excited but I need to take time to evaluate the amount of RF junk and etc... in the shack of radios A.O. Oh yeah, get the truck outta the trees and gain elevation! Calling my realty person, LOL.

That was 48 Watts outta the repeater and 24 Watts outta the duplexer.... that loss is huge and lame at the same time!

That seals it. Two antennas, done. separated by about 30'. I'll update as I test range and propagation.

I measured output power at the TX of my kenwood TKR 850. I also measured coming out of the duplexer at the antenna plug. I am using RG213 and/or KMR400 (swapping back and forth in testing). The cable length is 100'. My comment for increasing power was not for gaining distance as a know that does work that way. I was more interested in foliage penetration. This tree is above canopy but the lower portion of it's foliage is at the rest of the trees canopy thus wanting to penetrate better. I can not speak to the tune of the duplexer but my SWR meter says 462.702 (the Freq i want). I do not remember the sales facts but I will update later after work but I feel good about the tune for the seller. Audio quality does not appear to be an issue for this novice ear. Antenna is a HYT(T) whatever tuned to that freq. I think it is 3db gain?.

I was thinking that too.....I may update with the make and model when I get home.

Fascinating stuff! Thank you all! Marc: In depth stuff, digging it. It is obvious now but didn't consider seasonality in that way. Leo: Yeah, I'm loosing on the order of about 20W giving me 24ish Watts out of a repeater outputting 48W. I have the ability to have 2 separate antennas with separation over several wavelengths. The rest of the crew: I hear ya, A solid, good/great antenna. I am working on that!

Sooo...jumping after reading. I understand that more Watts doesn't necessarily ,equate to more fars. I realize from here that my repeater pushing 24 Watts will work almost as well as 50 Watts. My question is about Watts vs fars and obstacles. Is Watts vs fars linear, geometric, exponential? For example: 5W output on the repeater vs. 24W output more drastic improvement than 24W to 50W. Second part is: does more Watts afford more 'muscle' to propagate through foliage? (understanding that height and antenna is king here. I can not get above canopy but can get to about 70')

Thank you Gang. I am aware that RG58 is not a good choice. That was what was on hand at the time to play here in the shack. I have and am using RG213 and KMR400 for testing and radio play.

Thank you all. My first stop is call/contact them and see what can be done....

I share your old thing, that's why I ask via type so I can look back at it!

Bummer, I'll see what I can do...Any low budget options for this type of Radio (70cm-2m). Course I am going for my general and realize I will have several radios eventually as the rabbit hole swallows me up!