More New Antenna

A while back I built a 2m monoband slim jim from 450 ohm window line (notes here).  Works great, and I've used it many times while backpacking and camping.  But I thought it'd be cool to have 70cm capability too.  Those get a little complicated, so I ordered one from N9TAX's place.  Arrived yesterday and the rain let up enough that I could hang and test it today (more on that in a minute).  Ten feet of attached RG-58 cable, straight to an SMA connector: no fuss, no muss, no adapters, and minimum weight, 0.48 lbs in fact.  Perfect to use with the FT-60 HT, it gets the antenna up about 15'.  That's out of most ground clutter, gives a little extra range, and is an easy height to hang.  There's a 16' cable option, but that just seems like extra weight for how I intend to use this thing.  Nicely made, as sturdy as the monobander I built but with a helping of "we've built thousands of these things" polish.  And, of course, it'll work on 70cm.

So... how well's it work in real life?  Reached the Biloxi 2m repeater (25 miles) and the Diamondhead 70cm repeater (6.7 miles), with good reports from other hams on each, all at 5 watts.  That's about all I could expect it to do.  This is that easy solution when you need a little more range than an aftermarket whip antenna can give, without going to a full-on base setup.  Perfect for taking along hiking or biking.  It's not so much a mobile solution as a portable solution, but it for this level of performance it doesn't get much easier.