"Tony VE6MVP" wrote in message
...
Folks

I may be spending a significant amount of time in a small village
about 30 miles away from the "big city". I'd like to be able to
participate in the 2m repeaters, I suspect almost all of the
repeaters would be in an arc in a 45 degree angle from that small
town. Thus I'm thinking a beam antenna with a 45 degree coverage
would work well for me. I could then put it in a fixed location
pointing to the big city. It also wouldn't have to be that high up.

Ideally this would also cover 70 cm as well. Do such exist?

Or would a 8' omni directional vertical antenna on the end of the peak
of the house also give me decent coverage for the 30 miles?

Part of this depends of course if the village is on the back side of
some hills which is quite possible.

Tony

30 miles ain't that far. I have no problem hitting repeaters from 40 miles
out (mobile), but our repeaters are on towers.
Put yourself a 5/8-wave mobile mag-mount on the car and drive out to the
village while the repeater is in use. Make note of 'quiet zones' (bad
reception areas). Avoid those areas when the time comes to set up there.
You should have a better idea after your day trip, about the gain you may
need to reach and hear the repeaters.
Usually, if you can hear a repeater, you can talk to it.