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Rubber ducky, you're the one (poptalk.scrubbles.tech)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I have a license whose ink is still wet and a shiny Yaesu HT with that new ham smell. I can see my 2m repeater from my window - maybe a couple of miles away - but I have to be in that window to hear anything. I assume actually mashing PTT and saying anything will just sound like static.

That window is attached to an HOA-governed apartment, so outdoor antenna no va. What I've read so far is that my rubber duck might not be terrible by rubber duck standards, but that an N9TAX Slim Jim might be a good deal better, even inside the window. But that's 2m. I also like to listen to aircraft, just below 2m. Will an antenna tuned for 2m make it easier or harder to hear TRACON?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The tuning of an antenna is significantly less important for receiving compared to transmitting, so any 2-meter antenna should work decently for listening to TRACON.

That you can actually see your repeater but have to stand in the window to hear it suggests that there may be something else going on there, even if you have a rubber duck antenna.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's a very heavy building - multiple stories in earthquake country, and I'm not on the top floor. Everything dies when I leave the nook with the windows. NOAA works literally only on the windowsill, TRACON almost never clears the noise floor once I'm not near the window, and I hear some smaller UHF repeaters away from the window but haven't yet heard the 2m (it's not super high traffic, so can't say I haven't just been unlucky).

We're allowed on the roof and I've been up there, everything's peachy. When I'm at the office downtown, I'm on a high floor, so I can pick up the 2m easily even though I'm on the other side of the building.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Yeah, sounds like taping a slim jim antenna to your window may be the ticket.