My prepper brother in law sent me a cheap Chinese HT for emergency comms. While a few more of these would be OK for "walkie talkie" functionality, they're crap for reaching out to the local community, even with slightly upgraded "whip" antenna.
I have applied and been granted access to a local repeater up on a mountain peak near my home and there are locations on my property with line of sight. Will a well tuned + placed antenna be enough to Tx to this repeater at this wattage? Also, I plan to get a better HT to hook up, but not sure I want to jump into a mobile with power supply just yet. I primarily want to make sure I have something which can be emergency powered and reach out to a repeater on UHF (GMRS) 20 miles away.
Also I've seen some of these "slim jim" antenna which are rolled up and can be hung off trees. What real world performance is seen with these designs on low wattage?
Thanks in advance for any advice!