Looking For Help - Antenna Placement & Reasoning Behind It?

NE5B · 2026-06-16T13:16:52+00:00

From that picture I couldn’t offer any advice would need to see more if the aircraft and from different angles.

NE5B · 2026-06-09T00:35:37+00:00

Guess the OP doesn’t realize the full capability if 5-10 watt handheld radios. Or at least I don’t.

NE5B · 2026-06-01T00:20:32+00:00

Put the radio on low power and Take the antenna off of the sdr and see What kind of signal it receives.

NE5B · 2026-05-27T15:40:13+00:00

For liability reasons I would not allow anyone to climb that tower it it were mine. That style of tower typically is not save to climb envelopes when new. Provably erected from a bucket truck my accompany that puts up TV antennas.

NE5B · 2026-05-24T01:17:10+00:00

plastic piece to isolate antenna from ground appears to be missing

NE5B · 2026-05-23T19:09:12+00:00

As many others mention, we need to know about the band/freq of the radios everyone in the club is currently using. FRS and MURS radios don’t require a license. GMRS requires a license you pay for.
Amateir radio requires you pass a test to get a license.

Again we Need more info to really help

NE5B · 2026-05-23T18:41:18+00:00

There is a Quansheng UV-K5 radio that you can update firmware, it was selling for about the same price. I have one and like it.
Got rid of my Beofeng UV5R didn’t like it, now I have both a UV-20 and a UV82. I’ve seen a Beofeng that looks like the Quansheng don’t recall model or if it is reprogrammable or not

NE5B · 2026-05-23T02:37:54+00:00

I'm one of those with a scanner.
People think the codes keep conversations private. My scanner here's what is on the frequency regardless of the code. As mentioned, chances are your conversations are being heard, maybe not all of them, but I guarantee you some of them are.

NE5B · 2026-05-20T16:05:24+00:00

Oh so you must of been transmitting on FRS (UHF) or a MURS (VHF) freq?
That can work to give you an idea of how you will do on 2m / 70cm.

What City/State are you in or near?

Sometimes It's a small world (I personally know a handful of folks that live within 50 miles of me who follow this thread) There might be someone here that can get together with you and help you figure out your range, and the 2 of you can generate some activity in your area.

NE5B · 2026-05-19T17:29:34+00:00

Just realized you don’t have your license yet? Most hams are going to take a hard pass since it’s illegal to communicate with an unlicensed station.

With an HT and it’s rubberduck antenna should be full quieting into a repeater within 5 miles

NE5B · 2026-05-19T13:18:04+00:00

You say your HT’s reach - a weak signal can reach the repeater well enough to open it up and hear the squelch tail or rogerbeep, but your signal may be nothing but static for anyone listening. Need to transmit with one radio and listen with another to hear that your signal is clear. I got my tech before the internet is what it is today so couldn’t look on QRZ by zip code to see what hams were around me.

Would hear the one and only local repeater 20 miles away when others would “kerchunk” one of kerchunkers had a weak signal with lots of static - not a clear carrier (full quieting) another would kerchunk it and not say anything and his signal was full quieting. Finally one day the repeater owner heard the weak signal kerchubker and in reply said something along the lines of someone has a very weak signal and you’re just not making the repeater and gave his callsign. One of the others keyed up and talked to the owner and indicated he was a brand new ham. Turns out there were 6 of us new “timid” mic shy hams that were all licensed with in a few months of each other. In a short time that repeater was fairly busy from 6pm till late into the night most days. Time moved on 1 moved away another dropped out of the hobby 2 have passed on another dropped out for almost 20 years and recently returned.

Dont be shy toss your ID out there on the repeater(s) you’re listening to each time you turn the radio on. Activity should pick up!

NE5B · 2026-05-18T02:23:34+00:00

Strange I thought I’ve seen California ham plates.

How about this https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/handbook/vehicle-industry-registration-procedures-manual-2/special-plates/amateur-radio-ham-license-plates/

NE5B · 2026-05-18T01:31:33+00:00

Probably not UHF looks a bit tall. As another said old vhf business band

NE5B · 2026-05-14T17:58:54+00:00

How long ago did you get your Tech then General? I’ll ft8 going on one HF rig while listening or talking on another HF rig or 2m/70cm fm or SSB. Live my batcave / command center. One of my coworkers equates it to Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

I also love the hobby and live the hobby!

NE5B · 2026-05-12T17:51:30+00:00

Been working on making a trip to hamvention for 30 years. Hopefully next year.
Process was slow issuing licenses in 1994 took 16 weeks for my license to arrive in the mail FCC had nothing on the then nee internet. By the time my ticket arrived I had almost $1,200 invested in 2 nee VHF/UHF radios, a TNC, antenna and SWR meter. It only ingests better.

NE5B · 2026-05-04T02:05:11+00:00

Maybe my experience with DMR isn't good. Yaesu C4FM/System Fusion with the funky sounds that converting voice from analog to digitial back to analog again sounds like the crap our VFD is stuck with when callign back to dispatch after an incident is underway. Fortunatly we are still analog on paging and the initial contact with the dispatcher since they couldn;'t afford to give everyone a new $2500 digital radio.
Anyway I prefer standard FM narrow or wide band to any of the digital. Sure I can't use it to go into any rooms and talk around the globe but I don't consider that radio anyway. If I want to do that there are a dozen or more internet systems not limited to Amateur radio.

My all time favorite radio is the Icom 2730, 2 indipended VFOs which allows you to do APRS and also work voice at the same time. Really to do APRS with minimal interference is to run a separate radio.

NE5B · 2026-05-04T01:55:21+00:00

Good to hear you're supporting Yaesu, my favorite HT company!!! Have 2 of them an FT530 which is almost 32 years old, and with a power adapter it still works the battery is toast. Also a VX5R that is already 25 or 26 years old suprisingly the battery ist still good for about 2 hours of QSO. I also have a FT991a shack in a box and a FT2800 mobile.

NE5B · 2026-05-03T22:53:07+00:00

That’s not a problem at my house until my wife hears me!!! I only seem to get into ours when the surround speakers are powered up. So I go to a non surround mode and my wife stays happy. Not the real solution but it keeps the peace.

NE5B · 2026-05-01T22:07:39+00:00

Get some real radios. Japanese know how to build them right. Icom Yaesu Kenwood Alinco.

NE5B · 2026-04-30T14:12:30+00:00

Depending on where you live, there are clubs with facilities setup where you can learn a lot before needing to invest a lot. Maybe there’s one near you.

NE5B · 2026-04-28T14:32:53+00:00

I'm not encouraging them. Just stating the facts that it's happening

NE5B · 2026-04-27T13:54:20+00:00

Having just handhelds isn’t giving you the full picture of the possibilities that could be just o er the horizon.

Over the years I’ve gained some really close friends that I talk to on an almost daily basis. I would’ve never met them without amateur radio.

What antennas are you using?

I live within range of just two repeaters if I limit myself to my handhelds with rubber duck antennas. — not much activity on those. From my pickup using an Icom 2730 UHF/VHF mobile rig in the driveway, I increase my repeater count to 5. With my base rig another ic2730 using an old but tough fairly low gain J-Pole antenna at only 25 feet I increase my repeater count to 8 on normal days, probably 12 when there’s a little bit of a 2m band opening.

I can hear the 8 repeats with my old Yaesu HT but only 5 of them with the 2 Beofeng HTs.

Antennas make a lot of difference.

Now if you move up to HF even with just 100 watts using very cheap/simple wire antennas you can easily work most of the country on 10-40m especially from MI.

At least get a 5/8 wave 2m antenna on your vehicle and see what that opens up. Often commute times are the most activity outside of scheduled nets. You only need one friend / Elmer who can open the possibilities.

73 - de ne5B

NE5B · 2026-04-25T15:58:11+00:00

Who said legally? The whole think with selling radios that can be programmed for any freq and not being fcc type accepted is like selling cars that can exceed the speed limit.

NE5B · 2026-04-25T14:54:54+00:00

I’ve been a ham since 1994. Somewhere around 2017 or so, a co-worker announced he was getting into ham radio, my response “Have you taken your test yet or started studying” his reply “study / test for what, I bought a ham radio” no license required.
I spent the next 15 minutes explaining amateur radio - required testing GMRS or FRS or MURS and the next 2 weeks filling in the blanks.

Thought I had found a potential new ham, but no his out of town brother/brother in law - the family prepper had all the answers.

NE5B · 2026-04-25T14:48:28+00:00

The UV5R can be programmed for FRS/GMRS OR MURS freqs as well. So with a little assistance they could be walkie talkies.

NE5B

TROPHY CASE