Simple dipole vs handheld

[Werthers]

I'm going to conduct some experiments with a handheld and a base station rig.

Base station rig will be running 5 watts *to make it a fair test" with a simple vertical dipole outside.

Handheld will be operated outside same height as the dipole with a standard whip antenna on the handheld at 5 watts.

I'm conducting this experiment to get an idea of how well simple dipoles perform.

Tests will be done on 2 Meters FM.

Will the dipole perform better or will it be just a little bit better than the handheld with the whip antenna I wonder?

There is sod all on 2 meters at the moment so I will put out a few more calls out in the mean time to see if a station is up for giving me some range tests. I expect everybody is on HF at the moment so I may be waiting for a while.

What do you think, Dipole or standard whip antenna?

[Werthers]

Here is the dipole made from scrap antenna parts and the handheld with the whip antenna. Tests will be done outside. The dipole was only indoors for a test to make sure its working.

[MrWeetabix]

How did these tests go?

[Werthers]

I haven't managed to do a proper test yet but I did get 7+ miles on the handheld at home on the standard whip antenna with a good signal and about 40 miles on the dipole but couldn't be heard on the handheld from 40 miles away but that could still be down to many factors, I still need to do more tests on this.

2 meters is very interesting. You can pretty much get out on anything with 2 meters, its a very forgiving band.

Its quite funny actually because there was a station less than 3 miles from me and he couldn't hear me at all on either antenna but a station 40 miles away got me loud and clear. Some stations had to ask other stations if they could hear me. I do have a lot in the way of my signal path such as hills trees and buildings.