2 meter base station & distance?

[Captain Kilowatt]

Wondering how much you have to pinpoint a vertical yagi on 2 meter?

No different than a horizontal antenna. Every antenna has published specs and one of those specs is half-power beamwidth. That is how wide the main lobe of the antenna is as measured between the two points where the signal is down by half which is 3 dB. Unless you plan on stacking some long boom yagis you need not worry too much. The Cushcraft 17B2 17 element yagi has a half power beamwidth of about 28 degrees by itself before stacking. Horizontal beamwidth only changes when antennas are stacked side by side. Stacking one above the other results in the same beamwidth as a single antenna but the elevation angle is lowered.

 

[Bearcat]

That simply means you need the biggest antenna YOU can manage mounted as high as YOU can manage and as much power as YOU can reasonably afford. A good preamp mounted at the antenna is also advised for optimum receive. there is NO hard and fast rule of what YOU need other than YOU deciding what YOU can afford or manage to install. As usual bigger and higher is better than small and low. It's all about maximizing gains and minimizing losses with everything from the power output to the coax cable losses etc.

Can I run power and a pre-amp? Or will this distort my audio?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

As long as the preamp can handle the power output you can run both. Most serious 2m weak signal station do run both.

 

[Bearcat]

As long as the preamp can handle the power output you can run both. Most serious 2m weak signal station do run both.

Ok...another thing that bothers me about 2 meter is why in the world don't they make a modern day ALL MODE 2 meter transciever ?? I know supply and demand ect ect...but dang!

 

[w9cll]

With my old 2m setup 400 miles was possible most days, when band opened longer of course. Old setup was a pair of 17b2's stacked on top of each other at 100'. I did have a full kw for 2 at the time but rarely used it.

Rig I used back then was an Icom275a 2m all mode and a Kenwood Tr-9000 2m all mode in the car.

 

[Bearcat]

With my old 2m setup 400 miles was possible most days, when band opened longer of course. Old setup was a pair of 17b2's stacked on top of each other at 100'. I did have a full kw for 2 at the time but rarely used it.

Was that on ssb?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Ok...another thing that bothers me about 2 meter is why in the world don't they make a modern day ALL MODE 2 meter transciever ?? I know supply and demand ect ect...but dang!

You answered your own question. Demand is low. Most HF rigs include 2m nowadays although they are not as good as a dedicated single band rig. If you REALLY want high performance go with a good HF rig and a good transverter. Most big time 2m SSB operators go that route but a good transverter is $$$

 

[w9cll]

Was that on ssb?

Yes. I hardly use 2m fm. I use 440 more as the repeater coverage here in Chicago is better on 440.

 

[BBB]

Two Baofeng HTs can be set as a cheap repeater. If you used the UV-82HP as the transmitter, you'd have a 7 watt set up on the cheap



http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_CrossBand.php

I'm may to have to try this some day, but am aware the there may be FCC restrictions on operating such a repeater station without prior approval.

 

[bamacj]

When I lived in Louisiana I ran the c/craft 26b2's at 120'. They worked very well. I moved to Bama and only went up to 58'. I could still work a few stations back in La. Bruce had the same antennas up fairly hi and we could work each other most any time at 50 watts or less.We are around 160 to 180 air miles apart. 2 meter simplex can be a lot of fun at times.