More on 2-meter antennae

mag antenna for top of car on the right, using baking sheet for ground plane, new ground plane antenna on the right, using just 12 gaugue wire and an SO-239 connector

Just for grins, I decided to go further with the attenna experiments.  I made another grond plane, using #12 AWG insulated wire, crimp-on ring connectors, and an SO-239 connector. Using the same dimensions as the one in this post but following +Martin Lorton more closely (e.g., no copper plate), I soldered the vertical and screwed the radials (via the ring connectors) to the SO-239.

I still get spotty reception, not much better (and sometimes worse) than the 15" antenna screwed on to the radio.  I borrowed an SWR/Power meter.  I need one more connector to test the mag, but I get  beter than 1:1.2 SWR on the groundplanes. The power meter shows I'm getting 1W and 5W on the low and medium settings, and 7+ on the high setting.

I also made contact yesterday using the mag antenna on the car through a repeater ~15 mi away from where I was.  That's the first time I had success with that antenna. I was getting what may have been reverse feed, so I'd like to check the SWR. I'll do that once I get the connector (need 2 days for Amazon Prime).

I may just have to live with the fact that my house is in a bad place, but I'd like to see if an alternate antenna will improve things. I may have to go to a J-Pole, mounted up high.