Noise From Afar wrote:
Other than some RARE propagation openings on 2M such as ducting (some others
too) , the range for 2M is essentially line of sight and depends on height
of the receiving antenna and the transmitting antenna, antenna gains, power,
noise firgure and some other considerations.

Generally true, but this past summer, in July, I was talking all over
the East/Central US on 2m and 6m, via some kind of bizarre propagation.
SSB will get you more bang for the buck than FM will, every time. And
CW will do even better.

If I remember right, if you have 100W FM, you will do as well as 25W
SSB, which will do as well as 4W CW.

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