This is more for me to look back on in the future (but what isn’t on the blog, right?).

I’ve been participating in a couple of the local “nets” put on by the Sangamon Valley Radio Club (http://www.svrc.org) since I got my Technician license last month. One problem I’m constantly having is the 2 meter simplex net.

I have a pair of super inexpensive Baofeng UV-21R, and a few small antennas for them. They work great (in my mind at least, I have no frame of reference) for 70cm – I’ve been able to hit local repeaters and one that’s a pretty good distance away (40 miles).

But this 2 meter problem really has me wondering if it’s just the radio. Tonight I went out on my roof with both radios to even _listen_ to the 2 meter net and could not hear a thing. Out of frustration I tossed on a Signal Stick and started walking around the neighborhood. I could hear net control loud and clear in a few spots, and one other participant only very faint.

I went back inside and, while sitting at the kitchen table, keyed up and threw out my callsign. To my surprise, net control asked me to repeat – he actually heard me while inside my house. I went outside and replied, and was met with dead air again. Walked out front, same thing.

I walked around the neighborhood again, hearing bursts of chatter but never enough to communicate. So I gave up and went in and waited for the 70cm net which was to happen about a half hour later.

On that net, I was suprised to hear at least two others mention that they heard me loud and clear a couple of times, but then I’d disappear. Frustrating, but par for the course for these radios and their HT/mobile antennas?

I have a radio or two on my Christmas list, and am looking out for any Black Friday deals on a mobile VHF/UHF radio I can use as a base station to hopefully rectify this problem. In addition, I just signed up for the ARRL Welcome Kit which includes an HT they’ve partnerered with Gigaparts on. I’m 100% certain it will be a better radio than the Baofengs. It’s supposed to arrive in a couple of days so I’m looking forward to comparing it on the next nets.

I feel like I’m wasting everyone else’s time with the equivalent of “can you hear me now?”, and I’d like that to end.