Climate Jenny 2.1 in Elk: "Elmer? I have a question. My cute..."

Elmer? I have a question. My cute little Yaesu FT-60 can hear the weekly net on the nearest repeater pretty well, but they can't seem to hear me, on either frequency.

I've double-checked whether the offsets are + or - and I'm pretty sure the PL tones are correct.

I'm starting to think that 5 watts is not enough to reach a tower 5.4 miles away (according to Google Maps).

Anything else I should be trying? I'm thinking of driving over to tower next week....

#hamradio #amateurradio

March 10, 2026 at 1:41:50 AM

I can reach a repeater 50 miles away easily with 5 watts from my FT3D (S9+). What does your S-meter read?

I'm not sure, but the display for the S- and PO-meter fills up completely.

You can probably reach the repeater from you QTH with much less than 5 watts then. Can you check your TRX is transmitting at all?

Nothing else in the house (that's currently in working condition) can receive that frequency. But the guys at the radio store can probably indulge me on that.

I would think that 5W would be sufficient. Are you using the stock antenna? Maybe if you put a different antenna on it, you'll radiate more power.

I theoretically upgraded the antenna, but I'm going to try reverting to the rubber duck for a bit.

There's a lot of things which can affect range of a handheld, notably topography and building attenuation. If you're sure the offset and split is correct and your CTCSS freq is correct and set for tx encoding, go outside where there's few obstacles between you and the repeater. You ought to be able to 'kerchunk' the repeater from 5 miles away with ye olde rubber duck antenna.

My topography is about as good as it gets, but I'm wondering if my attempt at an antenna upgrade might be the issue. I'm going to revert to the rubber duck and see what happens.