In fact, I found out that I can hit the repeater sometimes if I let the
carrier run for at least 5 seconds. I did reach it this afternoon every time
I tried but can't reach it tonight. It is as if not enough power is reaching
the repeater, probably because of distortion caused by the large condos in
the path, that would explain the long time needed for the repeater to react
to my signal. The antenna I am using is a Quantum QT-6A dual band with 6 db
of gain on 2 meters. My coax is 60 feet of RG-8X mini foam ( I think this is
too small ) and the radio is a Kenwood TM-G707A with 50 watts out on 2
meters. The repeater does not use a tone and is on a mountain at a height of
about 1000 feet, it is 24.5 miles from here and I am 60 feet above sea
level. The SWR was measured with a meter that is supposed to be unreliable
on 2 meters so I don't trust the reading, anyway, my radio seems to find the
antenna acceptable. The thing that proves that my setup is working right is
that I can reach a couple of repeaters that are more than 70 miles from here
but not on the same heading as the problematic one. I think I will get my
antenna higher and maybe move it a few feet from where it is. Thanks for
your help and suggestions guys, it is much appreciated.

VE2CJW, Mike.

"Ralph Mowery" a écrit dans le message de news:
. ..

"VE2CJW" wrote in message
...
I can hear the repeater very well, in fact, it comes in at S9+ all the
time. I noticed that my SWR is around 2.5, I wonder what can cause this.

Mike.


If the repeater is S9+ on your receiver, unless the repeater is runing
very high power (300 watts +)
you should be able to hit it with a few watts. Sounds as if you need to
take your rig to another place and see if you can hit the repeater at all.
Maybe the repeater needs a subaudio tone to activate it and you do not
have it programmed in ?
You did not say what kind or how much coax you have between the rig and
the antenna. A SWR of 2.5 seems way too much. If you had about 100 feet
(30 meters) of rg-8 and a very bad antenna, the swr would not be too much
higher.