Increasing range of hand held radios

[Silent Earth]

 

[Captjim_NM]

If you really want to increase the range of your HT, get the antenna higher off the ground. Just make a J-pole antenna, enclose it in PVC pipe, spray paint it gray/green/brown and hoist it 30 feet up into a tree. VHF and UHF propagation is line of sight raise your antenna 30 feet above the ground and double the effective range of your HT.