On Tue, 16 Dec 2003 10:49:43 -0500, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

I can hit quite a few repeaters some of them 20+ miles
away on 2m just using a handheld with a rubber duckie
antenna. Clearly line-of-sight is not quite the case.
Repeater antennas are generally mounted high on towers
or buildings but my antenna is only 6' or so.

At 6', your line of sight is only 3 miles. However, if a repeater is
mounted on a tall tower, say 300', it's line of sight is 24 miles, for a
combined distance of 27 miles.

Steve