Response to the above 3 posts:
Unfortunately, I am the younger brother. Fortunately, my friend spent our college years hanging off Half Dome in Yosemite dangling from to the rock by ropes, and sleeping in a little nylon bed. He'll be fine 35' above my grass!
I should have said my first goal was to hit the repeater that we use on a local net. I also want to hit few other repeaters and receive some other stations. Although RX and TX are exponentially better as suggested, the antenna is shieled by my concrete tile roof. So getting it outdoors will help all areas, including reception and . . .
Simplex. Still a few stations on our net (when we use simplex) that are practically inaudible. Getting antenna above roof will likely help this. Then to get a radio with more watts...