I have a tripod from a photography back drop kit that I got from a yard sale years ago. Over the years I’ve used it for a lot of different things, mostly holding lights, or setting up for photo/video. Today, it became an antenna mast.
If you’ve been following along, you know that I’ve had problems with my antenna, specifically, that I could transmit out, but could not receive anything legible back. If this happens to be your first visit, check out my other posts to see my specific symptoms, and how I’ve been working through troubleshooting my antenna.
Today, I clamped the Tram to the tripod, and set it up in the driveway, and things got instantly better. The frequencies were pretty slow this morning, and I was only able to make 1 actual contact, so I pulled up my Echolink app, and was able to hear myself transmit from my radio to those repeaters. I was also able to transmit through the Echolink app back to my radio, and I was able to hear myself! The reception on my radio had quite a bit of static, but at least I could hear something. I swapped out my Tram for my new Diamond antenna, and there was no noticeable difference.
Then, I moved the antenna. Someone told me last week that sometimes moving an antenna just a couple of feet can sometimes make a huge difference, and they were correct. I moved the tripod about 10 feet, off of my driveway and into my grass, and a lot of the static went away. So, right now, the antenna is only about 8 feet off the ground, and the furthest repeater I’m able to hit is 40 miles away. Theres a LOT of repeaters that I’m NOT hitting that are much closer, but I have a feeling that if I move my antenna another foot or 2, maybe I’ll be able to hit some more.
While I was typing this post, I had my radio scanning. I currently have 97 channels programmed. That’s every 2 meter FM, open repeater within 100 miles. It was pretty easy to program using Chirp, and the ‘Query Source’ function. It stopped scanning a few minutes ago, catching a decent signal, and I listened to a couple of guys chatting about house prices and traffic. I didn’t actually look at the radio for the first few minutes, and when I finally did, I was shocked to see it was the “Wauka Mountain” repeater. This particular repeater is in north Georgia, outside of Cleveland Ga (home of the Cabbage Patch babies), and a mere 80 miles away from me.
I figured I had to just be getting a good skip to hear them, but assumed that there was no way I’d be able to talk back to them. During a slight lull in the conversation, I jumped in and announced my call sign. They answered back and they sounded as surprised as I was when I told them where I was calling from. All around metro Atlanta today there are scattered pop up storms. At the time that I was talking to them, I could hear thunder rolling in the distance around my house, and they said they had storms in the area too. We carried on a short conversation. There was a little static on both ends, but at 80 miles, I suppose that is to be expected!!!
So, I went from barely able to function, unable to hear anything that wasn’t within 2 miles of me to hitting a QSO 80 miles away on 2 meter in one day. This is the best result I could ask for. All my frustration went away (for now), and I can’t wait to get this figured out, and a more solid set-up so I can move on to 10 meter. I’m learning just how finicky antenna signals really can be, and I’m still kicking myself for not simply moving my antenna first before I bought a new one. I feel like I should have known better on that one.
But for now, I will start working in my attic again, looking to see if there’s a “sweet” spot that might allow me to transmit AND receive. If I’m unable to find that spot, I suppose a trip to a home improvement store for a few pieces of chain link top rail will be next. I’ll keep y’all updated as to what works and what doesn’t!