[HCRA] Bad area for HT's?

[Mike DeChristopher]

Well, some spots are good, and some are bad.  Usually, though, the 146.94(-)
repeater has 'good ears', seeing as it is atop Mt. Tom.  147.105(+) is a
great repeater but somehow deceptive.  When you transmit, you won't hear the
courtesy tone like on the Mount Tom machines.  If you have the squelch low
enough, you will hear a quick static crash after you transmit.  I believe
the .105 machine has a PL on it in the late afternoon.  It might be all-day
now; I don't use 2m too much anymore.

I'm in Agawam, and started off with an HT with just under half a watt of
power.  What I did is I bought a 2 meter whip antenna from radioshack.  I
put it on a cookie sheet for some groundplane and stability, and stuck it
outside the shack window.  Of course, the Provin Mountain 146.67 repeater
was in my front yard, so to speak, but I could still hit .94, .105, and
later, the Kx1x IRLP node on 146.46 - South Hadley.  My next move was to
mount the cookie sheet outside of an upstairs window for some height.
During the simulated emergency test (SET) later that month, I could hear
everyone on simplex and just about every repeater.

Now, on 2, I have a bozak vertical and a 15 element beam.  You don't need
anything like that for repeaters, unless, of course, you happen to get a
monster deal at an HCRA auction.  Like I say, you can purchase a RadioShack
two meter whip for - maybe $40? - put it on a cookie sheet, and drop it
outside your window and I think you'll find that it greatly increases the
performance.  Your neighbors won't hate you too much either.  Good luck with
whatever you decide to try, and if nothing works, you can probably get all
the info you need at the HCRA meeting on September 5th.

73', de Mike DeChristopher, KB1FWN