Taking on my actual first antenna build today with stuff that I already have accessible to me. It's going to be a vertical dipole antenna made out of PVC pipe, 2 19.25 inch cuts of a tape measure, and RG-58 cable. I expect that it'll get me about 10 miles with clear signal, but we'll see. One I'm done, I'll be posting pictures of it.
A vertical dipole should work reasonably well on 2 meters. Remember when installing it that height is king above all else (pun intended) at VHF frequencies, the higher the better. As the old saying goes - "A crappy antenna up high beats a great antenna down low."
Here are some pictures of the antenna I just built. I was hitting a guy that was listening to input of the repeater I'm on, the guy was about 15 miles away. I was holding it statue of liberty style, so think about how far it can get the further up I extend it.
That obviously works. If you have homeowner's association issues, remember, you can paint an antenna. Think-urban camo ::)
This antenna is more of a portable rig for my HT so I can hit the repeater when I'm working communications for an event her this coming sunday.
Try a ladder-line Slim Jim...
Gil.
Quote from: gil on August 13, 2014, 10:42:15 AM
Try a ladder-line Slim Jim...
Gil.
I will be doing a ladder line slim jim once I get the supplies in. But I had these readily at my disposal and I needed something for this coming sunday.