I wanted to be able to reliably reach the local VHF/UHF repeaters, so I bought a 2 meter 1/2 wave antenna to mount outside the house and hook up to my handheld radio. It came over the weekend, and I installed it this afternoon. The antenna itself is a set of wires of specific lengths and impedances that you mount in 5 feet of PVC pipe. I hooked it up with a large diameter low loss cable, and used an adapter to connect to the SMA plug on my handheld. Works like a champ! I’m now able to reliably key repeaters 15 miles away with the 5 watt handheld. I talked to a fellow Ham this evening via the repeater (W4AGC 2M on TV Hill in Durham), and he said I had excellent sound quality with no distortion. Also, was able to successfully test out an IRLP connection via the W4AGC 70cm repeater to my “beach” repeater in Newport, though my new Ham friend from Harker’s Island, KM4NRZ, didn’t answer. Also did a test of an IRLP reflector node, and heard my voice come back. Cool!
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