Any advice on what to do when I get my license? I have 2 Yaesu FT270 R handhelds. I want to get some better antennas for them, but not sure what to go with.

this has become my canned answer:
where to start

but since you asked, are you looking to upgrade the HT antenna or do something external (house/car/roll-up)?

good luck btw!

Looking to upgrade the HT from the rubber duck antenna to something better. And yes maybe even add an antenna to the car that I can hook up in a jiff

Comet makes good aftermarket antennas. I'm sure there are some others as well. Even Motorola has dual band antennas now that have an SMA connector.

As for the car, if you don't want something on there at all times, a mag mount with a decent dual band antenna would work fine. Be sure to use a SMA to BNC/SO239/N dongle and not just the adapter. You want to keep the strain off of the connection on the radio.

Just a FYI, since these radios have such wide band RX they tend to pick up more intermod and trash when you hook up a high gain antenna.

I bought a Slim Jim from this guy. Seems to work good.

http://www.n9tax.com/slim%20jim%20info.html

I recommend this as well.  Was using this in my attic for quite a while before I upgraded to a roof mounted Diamond, and it worked very well.  I use it for portable now and like it a lot.



I would recommend to get the PL-259 end on it and an adapter cable to whatever your radio uses.  More flexibility in the future.



 

For fixed station use, a ground plane antenna will work wonders for any HT.

Hams are notorious for loving to make things. Here's a starter project.

Thanks for that - do you have a School #2?

yes, but I haven't sat and typed it yet Episode 21 would be it in a nutshell

This same N9TAX Slim Jim is what we used for the Simulated Emergency Test I wrote up in another thread.

They simply work, and work well.  

Picture this... you are in woods hunting, hiking, up to no good, and break an ankle.  The little stubby antenna
of your UV-5R only gets out so far.  Reach into your backpack and pull out your piece of monofilament and
3/4" nut tied to the end for weight, start twirling lit and toss it over a limb in a tree.  Next hoist up the N9TAX
Slim Jim with 16' of coax, screw it onto your UV-5R, and now call for help, easily able to hit the area repeater.

And on 2 meters, antenna efficiency and height of antenna is everything, power is down the list.

OK Thanks.  By the way - I don't have a license, I don't have a radio and I'm not a HAM but I like listening to your show.  You do a great job.

I'll ditto that... The basic book from ARRL.org is 30 bux... the test is 15 bux... SO for 45 bux you get...
A decent understanding of how radios work and why, at sometimes, they don't..
The knowledge to build and experiment with antennas...
The honor & ability to be able to talk the the astronauts on the international space station...
An open invite to a lifetime of learning and tons of folks willing to help..
Freedom to set up your own comms station...an infrastructure of ONE..
The ability to assist your community in a crisis...
Jeeez bud that list can go on & on!!
As "I" have said many, many times..." I wish I had gotten into it sooner"!!

Go forth and communicate!

FN...

I don't suggest an HT for a first radio.  I suggest you do not put your first 2m rig in your car.  I don't want you
killing a carload of nuns or a van full of kids going to soccer practice.

Put your 2m rig on a desk at home along with a 22-30 amp power supply.  Yes, a 15 amp supply will probably
power your 2m rig just fine, but you should not stop at the Tech ticket.  Keep studying for General, and after
that, Extra.  The larger supply will work with a 100 w SSB HF rig AND at the same time power a 2m rig as long
as you don't transmit on both at the same time... for which there is no reason to do.

You can learn to program in channels, repeater frequencies, tones, all that.  And you can learn to operate the
radio and yourself without distracted driving.  Do not install a radio in your vehicle until you are 100% comfortable
with operating the radio in your home.  Buy the identical radio to what you used at home for your car.

There are a few radios that have 55 - 75 watts instead of the usual 50 w.  There is absolutely nothing to be gained
by buying the larger, more powerful, hotter running radio.  At 2m frequencies antenna is the more important issue.  
No one else will hear a difference except MAYBE you can drive another mile down the road before losing a repeater.

Thanks.  I'm just not sure I need another hobby right now.  Though I do enjoy reading about it.

EXCEPT on Tuesdays because Shirley is bi sexual and having an affair with Lois who is married to Tom who is screwing Janie, his secretary who used to date Pete who is presently being considered as a guest on the Jerry Springer show for getting caught fathering seven kids behind Sally, his third wife's back before he ran off with Shelly who left Richard for him.


THis guy is 100% dead on. Do NOT set up a mobile unit until you are 100% comfortable with the one you have as a base. Nuns and soccer moms are counting on you. Seriously.

My only advise is that if you really like  2 meters and the vhf thing , then DO NOT try H.F.

tHE VERY first THING YOU SHOULD DO IS STUDY FOR YOUR gENERAL.


i FUCKING HATE CAPS LOCK

yup... then you'll realize how limiting V/U is and be disgusted you spend time and money on it in the first place.

So I went and picked up one of those UV5R's and a whip antenna for it but still cant receive anything but some Morse Code sounding stuff from the local repeaters.

Is this antenna any good?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121761962435

It may be your local repeaters are dead ? I like my roll up from N9TAX!

Does the morse end with dit-dah-dit?

If so, you are getting to the repeater fine...there's just nobody home.

You'll find that a lot of repeaters are quiet. Lots of people listening but no one wants to talk. But then will jump right into a conversation when one of their buddies shows up. I can't say that I'm not guilty of that from time to time. But then again I don' scan a whole bunch of the local repeaters and I tend to talk on more commercial stuff than ham stuff. So it just depends a lot on where you live.

If I hold in the monitor button, I hear nothing but static but a signal meter shows up on the screen and it shows 1 bar on most repeaters and 2 bars on the closest repeater.  If I press and hold the transmit button for about a second it shows 3 or 4 bars (I only did this a couple times real quick but was afraid to do it because I dont have a license yet)

Is this little display of any use?

Keep 'ker-chunking' the local repeaters and eventually someone will yell at you.  If you quickly glance at the bar meter during the lecture you should be able to tell if it is useful or not.    

Good idea, I will give it a try.