Audio massage:
I’m in Worthing, West Sussex. Our local repeater is GB3BR near Brighton. I can’t work through the repeater on a handheld as the signal is too weak. Picture this… Sirio CX-425 omni directional 70cms antenna on the roof of the house. The coax comes down into the shack and is connected to my HB9 70cms beam, The beam is pointing down at me. On my handheld, I can now work through GB3BR.
This set up is called a passive repeater. The idea of a passive repeater is, for example, to fire signals down into a valley where there would otherwise be no signal. A beam atop the hill aimed at the transmitter connected to another beam aimed down into the valley. This works and is used commercially.
If your favourite repeater is too far away for you to use a hand held with its rubber duck, install a Yagi atop a pole in the garden aimed at the repeater. Install another Yagi on the pole aimed at the house. Connect the two beams with coax. You should be able to use the hand held in the house. Is this going to work? I’ll let you know in the spring when the weather is nicer.
The Yagi aimed at the distant transmitter needs to be high gain so a strong signal is sent to the second Yagi. I’ve read various articles online where this has worked well where there is no or very little signal inside a building, rendering hand helds useless. In one case, a dipole was placed in the basement, fed from an aerial on the roof of the house, giving enough signal for a hand held to be used.
You don’t need a licence, an NOV, or permission… and several people can work through the repeater at the same time as long as they’re on different frequencies within the band. Desensing permitting.
Here’s a great article by Iain Young, G7III
Back to back Yagi aerials.
