I just got the wife to help me with a SIMPLEX experiment on the 440 band. I was running about 12 watts in the Mobile and she was running about 12 watts from the Base. Both radios are QYT's. We did this experiment once before with different TYT equipment running about 30 watts on the Base and 30 watts on the Mobile and the results sucked. We got about 2 miles of full quieting and then fell of the edge of the Earth. Today, we got the same results running about 12 watts on different equipment. We got exactly the same results. We got about 2 miles full quieting and then fell off the edge of the Earth. I have come to the conclusion that 440 is worthless unless you are using repeaters. Now for some extra info. We used the same antennas in both experiments. A 1/4 ground plane at 40 feet at the Base Station and a dual band 2meter/440 mobile on the car. Now, here's the clincher. My 2 meter 5/8 wave over a 5/8 wave will also work on 440 Mhz. Do the math and you'll see that it is also resonant on 440. The 1/4 wave 440 ground plane is mounted at about 40 feet up and the 2 meter ground plane antenna is mounted about 50 feet up. The 2 meter antenna just barely beat the 440 antenna. Before you ask, yes I have a 3 POSITION ANTENNA SWITCH. Position 1 is 2 meters, 2 is 220, and 3 is 440. Hmmmmm... That extra 10 feet of height must have made the slight difference. At this point I almost feel like I should not bother using the 440 antenna. I can usually hit the the Ahoskie 440 repeater 50 miles away, the Richmond repeater 40 miles away, Ilse Of Wight repeater 38 miles away, the Williamsburg repeater 38 miles away, and always hit the Prince George repeater 16 miles away. A little extra info: If you haven't used 220 Mhz, it is almost identical to 2 meters as far as distance and power output from the radio.
