Interesting way to extend range of a handheld.

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n5ims

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I used to regularly talk 70+ miles using my standard 5 watt 2 meter handheld with the stock rubber ducky antenna. That distance was from my handheld to a repeater that was 70+ miles away. This distance didn't include the distance between the other station and that repeater. My transmissions were always clear (I asked the other station!) and was repeatable every time I attempted them so ducting wasn't involved.

Just like in the video, height was the big difference. I was on the roof of a 16 story building and the repeater antenna was around 1,400' on a TV broadcast tower. From the parking lot below, even when using my mobile on full power with 5/8 wave gain antenna from the parking lot, I could barely hear and not reach the repeater.
 

N4GIX

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I'm sure he had the 2m HT on a lanyard. Yes, a headset would have been much better than fiddling with a remote speaker/mic and it's twisty cable!
 

w2xq

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My first reaction to the video? Why would one step out of a perfectly good airplane? ��

(Yea, yea, I know... the thrill of victory and the agony of landing in a heap.)
 

Murphy625

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My first reaction to the video? Why would one step out of a perfectly good airplane? ��

(Yea, yea, I know... the thrill of victory and the agony of landing in a heap.)

Actually, its a lot like sex.. until you actually do it, its just one of those things that can't be described.

I've logged 80 jumps but haven't done it for 25 years now..
 

krokus

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My first reaction to the video? Why would one step out of a perfectly good airplane? [emoji16]

(Yea, yea, I know... the thrill of victory and the agony of landing in a heap.)
No such thing as a perfectly good. There is something wrong with every single one of them. (Even if it is just a scratch in the paint.)

Besides, it is like nothing else. My first solo jump was the most fun I have had with my clothes on.

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krokus

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I'm sure he had the 2m HT on a lanyard. Yes, a headset would have been much better than fiddling with a remote speaker/mic and it's twisty cable!
I can't remember which publication it was in, but I read an article from someone who fashioned a ground plane antenna onto their Pro-Tec helmet, with a handheld stuffed into a chest pocket of their jumpsuit, and worked some simplex under canopy.

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k7ng

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I've made a couple of 'parachute mobile' jumps (decades ago). 2M HT, "Hop-n-pop" from 7000'.The first one I did, too many hams in the SF Bay Area knew it was going to happen and the frequency was so loaded that only a few completed contacts were made. 2nd one, out in the Delta area, was more successful.

A couple of us skydiver / ham types were developing a plan to try a record-setting HT-to-HT QSO by getting canopies open at 15000' at opposite ends of the CA Central Valley. I don't remember why the plan finally fell apart but it never did happen, at least with my participation.

Being in the saddle at 10,000' or more makes you feel incredibly small and vulnerable, in case anyone wants to know.
 
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