Probably the gutter is made of aluminum if put up in recent years so that
won't work. Put a dual band mobile on a 6"X6" sheet of thin steel and make
four radials about 16" and bend them down at a 45 degree angle from the
corners of the plate. Mount them to the steel plate with small bolts and
nuts. Put the whole thing in the corner of your room. Unless you are in
metal building the antenna will work about as well as it would outside...
and yes it will be light years ahead of a duck.
Ken
remove the X in the address to reply.


"Bill Berris" wrote in message
. com...
Hi there!
I am new to the group here, and have a couple of basic questions that I
can hopefully get some help with...

I have recently decided to start becoming active on the air (VHF/UHF)
again when I found my HT as my wife and I were moving into our new house.

I am pretty much restricted to the HT for a bit, and want to come up with
a better antenna solution. A buddy gave me a mobile 2m/440 antenna and
mag mount base that he used to use with his Kenwood TM-V7A.

Question 1 -- The coax coming off of the mag mount connected directly to
the antenna feed line input on the mobile radio. What kind of connection
is this? I need to get a cable that will transition from the antenna
feed-line to the BNC connector on the HT. I would need to get this on a
length of coax (or just the connections and make my own cable) so that it
will reach the garage. Where could I find the cable and/or connectors?

Question 2 -- I was thinking of mounting the mag mount up on one of the
rain gutters that is only about 8 feet off the ground... would the
modest gain from the antenna along with the 8' mounting provive a
significant improvement over a rubber duckie? Or, should I build a 2m
J-Pole?

Thanks a bunch for any information you can help me out with -- I am
looking forward to getting my feet wet again so that I can convince my
wife that I need more radio equipment... :-)

73,

--
Bill Berris, KF6CNP
Salida, CA