I've changed plans a bit, though - the Boeing ARC 2 meter
repeater is only 4,000 feet away and I'm worried about
intermod. So, instead of a high gain antenna at 20', I'm going
to go with a moderate gain antenna 10' higher. The idea is
to get good gain with a farther horizon rather than high gain
with a closer horizon.

Plus, it's cheaper, too!

Instead of the GP-9 @ 20', I'm going to add a 10' mast
and go with a GP-3. Installation sould be a lot easier, too.
Now, though, my gain figures are 2.913 db improvement
on VHF and 3.056 db improvement on UHF.

I'm seriously starting to wonder if I should just leave well
enough alone - the MFJ-1729 is performing well. I was
talking to N0IDW on the 145.19 Winfield, KS machine
(a distance of 32 miles) and I could hit the reverse button
and hear him on the input. He, however, could not hear me
on the input.


Ken KG0WX


Don't change the antenna but go for height and a good grade of coax. It
won't show up for about 50 feet or so of coax on 2 meters but if going to
100 feet of coax it will on 440.
If your setup is doing what you want it to put the money to something else.
I don't do too much with the repeaters and FM so I was just using some rg-59
(75 ohm coax) to a home made dipole about 20 feet up the tower. It does
what I want it to on FM. Unless it was to add some tower I would not spend
$ 250 for an FM antenna system just to work repeaters.