I CAN'T Hear You...

Day Valley is beautiful, due to its hills, valleys, canyons, and yes, more hills; when these hills turn green in the spring, we like to think that we live in paradise. 

The hilly terrain is great for spectacular valley views and very-serious/devoted cyclists that roll through, but not so much for radio signal propagation - some of us have trouble hearing each other on our MURS radios... so what can we do?

A bigger antenna, of course - just remember, when in doubt, go big. That's what I have on my roof, a biggish MURS-resonant copper J-Pole antenna, which allows me to hear mostly everyone in Day Valley clearly. Unfortunately, not everyone's a fan of a big metal object on the roof, so with Bruce's (Day Valley's resident radio guru) help, we devised a home-brewed, small, simple antenna that works quite well. It is an "inverted-V" antenna (so-named because it looks like an inverted-V) that is tuned to the narrow range of frequencies which FCC has assigned to MURS radios (150 to 154 MHz). 

Here are the components of this antenna: 

2 x 19"-lengths of 14-gauge stranded wire

1 x SMA-type connector mount

1 x 15' cable with SMA connectors on both ends (to connect antenna to radio)

Build Instructions:

Solder the two wire lengths to the SMA connector mount; arrange the two wires in an inverted-V shape, connect the cable to the mount, and voila, you have just built yourself a MURS-capable inverted-V antenna, for about $10. Attach it to a piece of cardboard, hang it up high, preferably under the eaves of your roof, and you're in the MURS radio business. 

If you'd like to try one out (it'll outperform your OE rubber ducky antenna, guaranteed), let me know, as I can loan you one to play with. If you decide to keep it, just leave a $10 check in my mailbox.