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If it was me in my flat area of the country, I would use 2 meters with a yagi antenna up as high as I could get it, and point where I am trying to contact. Also a mobile radio with the ability to put out more power will also help. You should be able to get the 40 miles out with a setup like that. If you are wanting to push out further reliably, you may need a larger antenna and more height. But if you are just looking to play around you can get away with a vertical antenna and keep an eye on propagation and you will get out there no problem. I have made 300+ mile contacts with a copper J-pole antenna 20ft up in the air because there was great propagation at the time. Hope this helps and thanks for watching. Ben

Glad you are getting back into radio. You can still have plenty of fun with an HT. My buddies and I do alot of our testing with HT's in town with various external antennas. I've used me Elk Antenna which is a handheld log periodic beam to hit repeaters 40 miles away with my HT. Have fun getting your shack set back up and running! 73s Ben

@@BobEE-r8o Repeater use let's you know the range of the repeater. Simplex lets you know the range of your station. Your power output, antenna type, power supply, microphone clarity, are all tested on simplex mode.

@@elmoreglidingclub3030 Ive only heard it in my area during contesting. Same with digital modes and ssb. FM is pretty much 99% of what I hear outside of contesting in my parts. My friends and I schedule stuff and jump on different modes. If you have friends that can do it for sure give it a try.

@@k8ktoamateurradio671 That’s what I was thinking-arranging CW practice sessions with friend. Thanks. Good video. I’m about to buy a 2m radio and I think simplex will be what interests me the most.

@@davidwilcox1982 Honestly there is nothing great. Better to just memorize and get a basic understanding to pass the tests. Once you get your license research more of the stuff that specifically interests you.

Ignore those people. Keep on trucking

Yea don't listen to operators like that. Those are the ones who need to get out of the hobby if they are trying to stop people from being active. I call CQ everytime I am looking for contacts on simplex. Its helps convey you are looking for any contact especially if you signal is down in the noise. Keep calling CQ and ignore that sad hams. 73s Ben

I would love a few large hills in my area, but not completely surrounded by them. It would definitely make things more challenging. It would be great to be up on the hills, but at the bottoms not so much I am sure. Yea HF would probably get out a little better. 73s Ben

@@k8ktoamateurradio671 I have an EFHW for 40m that I run in NVIS mode. Range is 6 blocks to 3,000 miles.

Hey perfect. I am just getting settled in my new QTH and am finally getting to start putting together a more permanent setup for my equipment. I am giving up for the time being on building a 23cm yagi and will be ordering one soon. That would actually be a good test of the antenna. Do you have any recommendations on 23cm antennas? I am looking at the Comet 1216E to start with and then upgrade to a larger one in the future. 73s Ben

@k8ktoamateurradio671 I have a comet vertical, and a directive systems loop yagi. The yagi you can buy in a kit for around 100 bucks.

Ive messed with progressive presses and the speed is nice, but quality control of the single stage is what I like. Ive had barely any headaches with the single stage.

I've gotten pilots before, but never a motorcycle. Those are both unique contacts for sure!

It will do the job for you. I just noticed with mine leaving it on the tripod outside that over time it oxidizes or get crud on it over time. Also if it is raining or snowing I would keep having to go out and wipe the coils off to improve my signal. I think they have a mount on their website to post mount the antenna that I would look at if I was going to leave it outside again. Good luck and 73s Ben

@ awesome I’m excited I mainly want it for 10-11-12-15 meter bands to make contacts, I got a new QT-80 and I’m gonna start using it, and of course it has no scope like my ftdx10 does so I wannna be able to signal chase lol

Yea I did the same with memorizing a lot of the material. I some of it is useful and I retained it, other stuff I purged. I keep wanting to test for extra, but I operate more on the VHF+ bands now. Main thing is get your general and figure out what stuff interests you and just learn about and focus on that. Good luck and 73s Ben

Yea clubs are in the end social clubs and any hobby, interest, or charity seems to have their drama. Yea I keep wanting to check into the 2m SSB net up that way on Friday nights, but always forget or have something going on. I might try tomorrow to test out my station. Do you know of any other local 2m SSB nets? 73s Ben

Yea it can get pretty active. Some area's not so much, but I always have good luck. Yea it is a great way to learn how far your signal gets out and what you can pick up as well. 73s Ben

@@billmakesmovies 146.52FM, 146.42FM, 52.525FM, 28.4USB, MURS #3, 462.600FM, 49.895FM, 27.185AM, 27.385LSB, 27.355USB, 27.405USB, 27.195FM, 50.125AM, in that order, are the frequncies I listen to the most. There are very interesting conversations on all these frequncies, where I reside. I thought, I am not an amateur radio operator, I did aquire a Yaesu FT-710aess. It was left with me May of 2023. After I checked it for damage and found nothing, I made many attempts to contact the owner. February 2024, I took the radio out of its original box and decided the radio was now mine. I have a scanner, an SDR, and the Yaesu FT-710aess as my only receivers. The Yaesu FT-710aess is fascinating. It receives far better than the scanner and the SDR. The beautiful waterfall is extremely useful and informative. But, the Yaesu does not travel well. I can carry the scanner and the SDR with its laptop together, much eaiser than the Yaesu. Perhaps, one day, I may get licensed. For now, it is an incredible receiver on just a copper clothing line that stretches between the barn and the house. I do not expect the owner of the radio will ever come to claim it. It was taking up space in my makeshift, radio repair shop. Thus, it is mine. It is an extremely advanced piece of equipment.

So I was using a 2 meter copper Jpole. I can't remember where I got my measurements, but there are online calculators for them and lots of videos about how to make them. Mine ended up working really well. 73s Ben

Me too, It tells everyone your address name birthdate previous addresses come and rob me radio equip here FCC could keep it private, Stupid

@@stratocasterblue the amateur radio operators on youtube put their callsigns out there for everyone to look up. I guess that makes them amateur youtube operators.

lol you're right about that, Amateurs is right, lol Stupid@@lisocampos8080

I like the idea of the call signs since it keeps some order on the air and doesn't make things chaotic on the air lol. Basically to avoid such a mix of handles, names, call signs, and whatever else anyone would come up to call themselves by lol. People's creative phonetics can cause enough confusion on the air lol. Yea having a way to at least not list your address would be nice without having to have a PO box. 73s Ben

I am not sure if I did or not. I just need to get some of my scrap copper and connectors and play around with them a bit to work on technique. 73s Ben

That should get you out a ways. I have done well with my 10 element on 2m. 73s Ben

It seems more people are getting away from the clubs and repeaters since there is more online presence for ham radio. You can learn about it and watch all the channels and interact with other hams without having to join a club. Plus I think more people are prepper focused and want to not rely on repeaters. 73s Ben

@k8ktoamateurradio671 I have heard exactly what you are referencing being spoken of on the airwaves. Many say the membership dues are not worth the benefits of joining clubs because none of them do mass purchasing of radios to bring down the price of the model being ordered to very affordable. Others say they were betrayed by ARRL and will never be a member of a club again. I looked up what ARRL is. I guess it is a very large radio club. Many are also saying that they tire of the draconian rules and want radio to be more easy going. The conversations are very interesting, on the airwaves. I can even receive some digital modes with my SDR. The scanner is only all mode analogue. When I attached the SDR to the old television antenna on the roof, it was like seeing in black and white then seeing in colour! I wish the antique rotor worked. But, I am thrilled to have so much to listen to on a very affordable reviewer. I can listen to anything 100 khz to 3 ghz, with some digital modes as well. Long live the radio hobby whether it be a simple scanner and SDR, CB Radio, GMRS, or amateur radio,

Hahaha yea that antenna did not work well at all, I ended up throwing it in the trash. I am just getting my station set back up and will just be getting a factory yagi to start with and work on my antenna building later after I do some more research. I plan on using an N connector for the rest of my builds. 73s Ben

Hope you decide to join the community! There's a ton of resources out there, and the test is simple enough to memorize after a couple weeks of study. If you find a local club in your area don't be shy and reach out to them... Somebody might even hook you up with your first radio for free!

Yea I got the transverter up and running with some basic antennas. I am just working on getting my antenna system setup with a yagi for 23cm to do some more work with it. 73s Ben

Yea same here. I have tested it with my Alinco DJG7 and it works. I will probably do some more testing with it since one of my local friends now has a 1.2ghz radio and we are both getting small beams to use with them.

I am not able to transmit. But, I made a 2 meter ground plane antenna and put it up about 6 metres off the ground. The scanner was picking up transmissions from about 90 kilometers away! Granted, the operators were using 50 watt and 60 watt stations on half wave vertical dipoles. But my coat hanger antenna was receiving them very far from the station, without a repeater.

So, I thought the same thing before I got my transverter. I always prefer to see listed prices, but it is what it is. The owner communicated well in English and I had no issues at all. He seemed very friendly and willing to answer questions and provided instructions and information on the transverters. It really seems the prebuilt transverters are produced by European manufacturers anyways and his prices were by far the lowest that I found at the time.

Nope, for simplex you want to listen and receive on the same frequency since it is radio to radio. The offset and tones will be if you are wanting to talk on a repeater.

Thank you and j tried it on my uv-5r, so far no one responded on national simplex possibly it may be the antenna I'm using. I want to get a jpole and trying it

@@elsuperpollo2273 Its tough getting your signal out far on the ground with a stock antenna unless you are up on high ground. If you can get a Jpole up in the air as high as you can you will have much better luck with your 5 watts. 73s and good luck.

I ended up scrapping it. It didnt tune up well. My friend has recently gotten into 1.2ghz and we are working on some antennas or if all else fails picking out premade ones to buy. So far we have used PCB antennas and talked FM simplex with 1w about 2 miles from each other.

​@@k8ktoamateurradio671 ... What do you mean by "didn't tune up well" ?? And ... physically, what did you do with the Transverter and Amplifier ??

Not at all. 146.520 is the common calling simplex frequency, not just for emergencies. 146.400-146-600 with 20khz spacing. So 146.400 146.420 146.440 etc up to 146.600 with 146.520 being the common simplex calling frequency. In the old days when there were tons of hams on the air, it was common courtesy to make a contact on "52" and move to an alternate simplex frequency to not "tie up" the calling frequency. Now thats not an issue at all. Hope this helps your understanding of simplex, which is direct radio to radio, no repeater involved.

Hey the Yagi was trash so I scrapped it. Really close tolerances with these antennas and I got something off. One of my local friends got a 1.2ghz radio so we are currently testing out the radios and antennas we have been able to get ahold of. We are currently researching different antennas so either build or purchase. These antennas are alot less forgiving than the vhf antennas I have built in the past. Sorry for the delay on commenting back. 73s Ben