I agree with the antenna suggestions. I carry a short Maldol MH-511 stub for general use, a thin Pryme RD-98 which is about 19" long (dual band, my favorite antenna) and a Maldol AH-510R which is just over 3' long extended (tri-band). All of these can be used while walking.

Some of the folks in my emergency group have pocket roll-up J-pole antennas made from TV twin lead and one has a Quad antenna. These need some sort of mount or hang point though.

It is pretty easy to buy excellent antennas and the pocket J-poles are easy to make, cheap, and efficient, especially if hoisted into a tree for a bit of height. You will need to carry a short length of cable to connect it however.

This then leads into the various car and base station antennas which can really improve performance.

Once you have a decent hand-held adding a spare battery (or AA pack) and a gain antenna should be next on the list....really not next but at the same time as the radio purchase. Supplied antennas from most (all) radio manufactures are not usually very good.

This link covers some of the difficulties with using hand-held radios and their limited antennas. It is in the form of a repeater script and seems to be missing the J-pole description but overall some good things to consider when trying to use such limited radios for emergency communications. The Tiger Tail is a good add on.

http://www.scc-ares-races.org/emergency_operations_and_ht.htm

And the orginal source article from Ed Harris:

http://www.qsl.net/fairfaxares/ht_ops.htm


Edited by Schwert (09/23/05 01:15 AM)