New ham, haven't seen a rule regarding this question so I'll ask here...

[khooke]

A 50w mobile radio to an outside antenna should get either of you into one of the repeaters, either 45 or 37 miles away.

I'm guessing 4w even into an external antenna is just not getting there. You didn't say what external antennas either of you have, and what gain they have? If you could point a beam with some good gain directly at the repeater you're trying to reach, that could do it, but adding more power might be an easier option.

 

[SCPD]

Something doesn't sound right... I, routinely, access a repeater 50 miles from my mobile. I have a 1/2 wave antenna mounted on the rear left trunk lip and can get into the repeater DFQ with never more than 10 watts.

Do you know any particulars about the repeater(s) you're attempting to use? Repeater antenna height? TX RF output, etc.

 

[zz0468]

Something doesn't sound right... I, routinely, access a repeater 50 miles from my mobile...

I agree. I routinely use uhf repeaters 100 miles or more away, sometimes handheld. Granted, I'm in a desert area at some elevation on repeaters built by people who know what the hell they're doing, but still...

 

[N9NRA]

simplex use here in WI, what i`ve found here.

Here in WI how much simplex use there is depends on where you`re at, up north in my end of the state (NW WI) there a good bit of chatter with a group of really great guys up in the Superior area, i listen to them on the way into town to do vidieo work for a private party there, even chat with them from work on breaks, a gain antenna on the HT does wonders . Around here it`s a little more sparse, there`s some chatter once in a while on 146.52 and a few other freqs, but mostly it`s on repeaters, except for the DSTAR users with DVAPS around 145.670 and i`ve heard some P25 stuff from time to time too. To the south OTOH it`s kinda busy, listened on the way to Milwaukee to catch the train to see my brother and do Dayton, while i didn`t hear much on the bus run from here (Wausau), once we made the Appleton/Oshkosh area things picked up a bit. Mostly it was on `6.52, it got busy around the Milwaukee area too, again on `6.52, that seems to be where everyone hangs out around here. Listened on the run to Chicago (where i had my one and only layover) and again nothing once we got outta MKE, got busy again when we made Chicago. I plan on repeating this listening thingy again this time around to see if there`s more or less usage, and to see what i hear on the run from Chicago to where i leave the train at Cincinnati just to see what i hear. Given that half of the run will be in darkness it should be intresting, `specially after about 8:00PM-ish once all the nets are over and folks start thinkin` about mabey getting into the rack for the night, might hear some of the "night owls" out there. I`ll keep everyone posted as to what i find, might get fun to listen to . 73. N9NRA