Climate Jenny 2.1Mar 10

Elmer? I have a question. My cute little Yaesu FT-60 can hear the weekly net on the nearest repeater pretty well, but they can't seem to hear me, on either frequency.

I've double-checked whether the offsets are + or - and I'm pretty sure the PL tones are correct.

I'm starting to think that 5 watts is not enough to reach a tower 5.4 miles away (according to Google Maps).

Anything else I should be trying? I'm thinking of driving over to tower next week....

#hamradio #amateurradio

Show threadSaoirse DulipMar 10
@ClimateJenny This happens to me a lot to. I'm no Elmer, but I suspect it's easier to receive than to transmit in most cases. I eventually ended up making a homemade 1/4 wave antenna and that seems to have helped quite a bit in terms of transmission. I think the bottle neck is the FT-60s default antenna. Is that what you are using?
Show threadClimate Jenny 2.1Mar 10
@SitaDulip Actually, I bought a 1/4 wave antenna from Signal Stuff (out of gratitude for their study tools, and because it was orange) as an upgrade, and now I’m thinking it might actually be the issue — I switched back to the OEM antenna and I just got the repeater to talk to me! Progress!
Show threadSaoirse Dulip
@ClimateJenny Well that's good! I also forget what the default power setting is on the FT-60, but if it isn't at its highest setting, that might help too?
Mar 10 at 12:47pmWeb
Show threadClimate Jenny 2.1Mar 10
@SitaDulip It seems to default at high, 5 watts. (Come to think of it, my college radio station was only 10 watts.)