As far as the UK goes (And I suspect, the US) there is the main Es season of roughly April to September  and a little one around Christmas so the answer is yes. There are other E layer events such as TEP (Trans Equatorial Propagation), Auroral E which sounds similar to Sporadic E and of course, Aurora with its distinctive sound. There may be others, I am not certain.


73 DE Tony

Hi Lamar
I suggest using another SWR bridge and scan across the band, as has been suggested above.
The meter in the radio can be out (best to have several meters take readings, borrow some from your friends).


Good Luck
Tony

Several issues with that,
Firstly on an aircraft there is a finite amount of space to play with, with sharp(ish) corners. On the ground, no such constraints.

In an aircraft ( or any PMR systems) you are dealing with solid contacts, in the Amateur setup you are dealing with possibly marginal contacts so any help you can get etc

No comments on the durability as you are quoting from experience.

 As an aside, a friend was listening to the Civil Aircraft Band to the ATC at RAF Waddington with a handheld, he was hearing aircraft solidly that the ATC was struggling with.

At home I have a 20 metre run of coax from my colinear to the radio.
I had originally RG213 coax but then swapped it for Ecoflex15 , UHF seemed livelier afterwards.

My advice, get the best you can afford. I don't subscribe to the notion of cheap when you have shelled out good money on a radio and aerial. ( Perhaps that's why there is all this tosh about VHF being "line of sight" all the signal has been mopped up by the string with a Bobby Charlton comb over)

I'll give you my experiences on 2 metres.
50 watts to a mobile whip, circa 100 k
5 watts to a horizontal omni ( A cloverleaf, Wimo Big Wheel) 360 k Lincoln ( Not renowned for big hills) to GI land under flat band conditions (Have worked into France but not sure of conditions)
The Cloverleaf is the biggest PRACTICAL mobile aerial (A halo is a lot better than a vertical but not a patch on a Cloverleaf) but as suggested by others a small yagi is better for /P  plus it doesn't take many seconds to swap polarity.

The word over here is 1700 Pounds Sterling. Should sell reasonably well here because our version will have 4 metres designed into it (50 watts)

Firstly get the car right, power feed and bonding of the car (Earthing straps between parts of the car) Alan Applegate K0BG is your friend here.
For a radio, Icom706, Icom7000, Yaesu 857, Kenwood 480 Alinco are cheap enough. At the risk of everybody rearing up at me, I would suggest a hamstick as a starter.

AA4PB is on the money, go for bands that are reliable, 40 metres, 80 (75) metres for local(ish) ragchews and for longer distance 20 or 17 metres. You want bands that are open when you are commuting, I dont think 10 is reliable enough at this time of year.

W7MJM said
"Get a diesel vehicle: No spark plugs = No ignition noise "

Not quite, the engine management unit is a computer and the injectors are fired electrically (and other things) so the modern diesel CAN be as noisy as a petrol engine

In the UK.
If you are on the sea or TIDAL river, you sign /MM
If you are above the tidal reaches of the river or on lakes or canals, you sign /M
Even moored up, you are on  the sea so I would think /MM

If this isnt fully clear I'd suggest contacting the ARRL or FCC, they should give a definitive answer

Wont work, fibreglass is RF transparent (dependant on the "paint"), ally isnt

Just check where the sunroof opens to so you dont block its movement with the aerial mount

Scanner aerial on front wing.
5/8 for 2 metres, if you have height problems see if there is a quick detatch mount available for the NMO. If you are thinking of getting a dual band V/UHF radio unless you already have VHF aerials, get a dual band aerial.
As I have very little knowledge of American cars I'll leave the mounts to your fellow Americans

66ft versus 14ft?
How about a wire dipole from the handrail at the front (insulator) up over the top and down to the stern.
If the dipole is too long , make it a cage dipole.
Or a vertical with the boat's bodywork as the earthy side

Dick
The FT8900 has an N socket, well my XYL's 8900 has. I dont know if they are different on your side of the pond?