Posted: 3/8/2015 6:54:27 PM EDT
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Just a crazy thought. When I get an HT, I'd like to to use it for as many different purposes as possible. I can attach an antenna to vehicle roof and make it a mobile. It wouldn't have as much power as a true mobile but it would work.
For home use, I'm limited by the 5w output. Even with an antenna mounted to the roof, the loss from the feed line is counter productive. So...I was wondering if it is possible to place an RF amp between the HT and antenna. If this were possible, a quality HT could do triple duty: portable, true mobile and base station. I understand that I'd still be on 2M and 70cm but it would greatly increase the versitility. |
| when i first got my license i ran a 5w HT into an amp. if i remember correctly it was 5 in and 40 or 50 out. it worked just fine for what i needed. would i do it again? not in my truck but to run one in the wifes truck maybe. there is plenty of decent old LRM radios floating around that cant be used for public service any more but can be used for amateur radios. |
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Quoted:
You indeed can. But, for what you would pay for a dual band amp you can buy a complete dual band radio, so there really isn't a good reason to go with the amp instead. Or a DVAP. 
Playing around with my brand new d-star HT, and the repeaters are clear down town. I can hit the VHF inside the house if I add more antenna, but the UHF is no joy. |
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Quoted:
Just connecting your standard 5w HT to a good car mount antenna will improve your communications ability more than you might think. I'd recommend starting with this. You can always add an amp or a real mobile radio later if you want even more. Yes, and I've done this myself on a cross country trip. But as said above, you can buy a 2m/440 rig for about the same cost as an amp. |
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Exactly what I did when I first started, but I think amps were a bit cheaper then.
Unfortunately the current amp selection isn't priced nearly as friendly, and it doesn't make sense. A Mirage BD-35 is about $200, and the 2M only B-34 is about $110. You can get a 2M full power mobile new for about $130, so you can see it's really not very cost effective compared to what you're getting. If you can find a used amp cheap, though, go for it. |
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A great antenna will always be more powerful than those HT amps. A dual band yagi or big co-linear will have more effective radiated power plus equally increased receive improvement. Amplifiers don't improve your receive.
You can even build the antenna yourself. Eta... my HT is my only 440MHz radio into a home made colinear. |