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Also, before I went and started ordering the parts of that gigantic j-pole I kind of wish I would have seen the plans for the 1/4 wave groundplane... would have been a better starter project. Little bit easier to get going and much easier to find a mounting location. I might just build a 1/4 wave first anyways and finish up the j-pole afterwards. Depends on part prices and tool availability.

Charles L. Cotton wrote: Welcome to the hobby and congratulations.

Using a mag mount antenna, your Baofeng should hit a repeater 2 miles away without any trouble. There must be some issue with the repeater or major shielding between your home and the repeater. Do you have that problem at different locations?

I've only had occasion to use it once, during that net. I'll try again maybe on the drive into work or on the drive back, or maybe try and hit up the Plano repeater during lunch. I was in my driveway and my house (which is a single story brick facade) was between my car and the repeater. I was thinking that might be part of the issue. I was considering driving around the corner for the next Net, hopefully the neighbors don't get too suspicious when my camry with an antenna pulls up in front of their house and parks there. I might even get better signal if I just pulled away from the driveway and over to the sidewalk.

Charles L. Cotton wrote: I have a Baogeng and can hit a 2 meter and a 440 repeater in downtown Houston from my backyard 24 miles away. Granted, both repeaters are on tall buildings and I'm using a taller antenna than the stock rubber duck that comes with the HT.

Are you building a traditional J-Pole or an OSJ? I've built an OSJ with a friend and they are great antennas. This one is also a dual band antenna -- 2 meters and 70 centimeters. 1/4 wave ground plane antennas are also easy to build. If you want to build a yagi, then have a look at the designs by G0KSC. I've built the 5 element LFA for 2 meters and it's an excellent antenna. I'm going to build his 7 element 2 meter OWL yagi.

Chas.

I'll try hitting various other repeaters. As with many new Hams I think I'm a bit mic shy.

I am building that exact antenna! http://nt1k.com/blog/2011/open-stub-j-p ... any-times/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I have ordered the aluminum rods, will be borrowing a friend's tap and die set to add the threads. Just need a angle bracket, a hacksaw, pl connector, rg-8, and I'll be ready to put some big ugly antenna on my roof. My wife is "thrilled" about this new project...
After building the OSJ antenna I was going to build a 1/4 wave ground antenna like the one you linked. The idea being it could fold up and go in the trunk. Then with a couple lengths of pvc pipe I could erect a small ~10ft tall "tower" on top of my car to get some extra reach out of the handheld if needed. Or to use while camping.
After the ground plane antenna a handheld Yagi was also on the list because I wanted to reach out and make contact with some satellites... I mean, who doesn't want to communicate with outerspace?!

I grew up a computer tech guy (i'm 30). Computers used to be nerdy, and building computers was nerd-cool... now nobody builds computers, powerful computers are a dime a dozen... basically they're no big deal anymore... Ham Radio seems like the last tech frontier to me! Building things yourself. Using both old and new technology to do amazing things. Talking to people across the world or in outerspace with small lower powered devices not needing the internet. Its my next geek/nerd/techy frontier.

I just got licensed last weekend! Passed the Tech and General License in one attempt.

For now I've just got a Baofeng and a mag mount antenna in the car. Its really limited, I was just barely tapping the Sachse Radio Clubs Repeater last Wednesday night from my place in Rowlett (about 2 miles). I'm working on getting all the parts needed to build a j-pole out of 3/8th aluminum rods. Maybe Santa will get on board this year and get me a Yaesu mobile unit with ~50Watts if i'm really lucky.

Really looking forward to eventually saving up enough to get a HF rig.

I had been thinking about it for years but never gotten around to it. A guy at a CERT training class I was doing this last weekend was a HAM and He and I were chatting about it a bit. At the end of the day he handed me a flyer for a Technician Class the first weekend in March in Wylie, only $44 for the class/book/test. I might take him up on it. Its my birthday weekend though so I think my wife has other plans for me.