Depending on the quality of the antenna, an 11 meter antenna usually works fine on 10 after re-tuning. A lot of hams use the Wilson 1000/5000 series antennas and have excellent results (I have one cut to 29.6 for FM work and it's fantastic!) I have also heard of some hams being successful with the "Firestik" type antennas. But watch out for the cheapie antennas you find at discount or auto parts stores. They usually aren't worth the materials they're made of and perform worse than the proverbial wet noodle!

I use an FT-8900 in the car with a Comet SB-15 antenna, which covers 6, 2 and 440 all in one antenna. It works great for me! The antenna is rather long, however (54"). Comet also makes a smaller triband antenna (the SB-14, about 36") but I'm not familiar with its' performance. I believe Diamond and Austin Antenna also have triband antennas. For 800 MHz PS reception, unless you're traveling a long way away you could probably get away with a quarter wave spike, or even one of the glass mount antennas.

BTW, with a little patience and perseverance you can find FT-8900s used for $300 or less, and the separation kit can be homebrewed for under $10.

Thanks for all the replies. It seems to me that the "hollow" sounding stations are (mostly) using amplifiers, but it's probably just a coincidence. Maybe poorly adjusted audio processors, or something along those lines. But now I can go QRO with one less thing to worry about!

And by hollow, I mean it sounds like someone is talking through a drainpipe! It sounds horrible, and I wonder if it's due to design flaws, certain brands, or what? I am going to be looking for an amp to buy one day, and I definitely don't want one that makes me sound like I'm inside a hollow tube!

As long as the case of the AC unit is metal (steel or other material a magnet will stick to) just put a 5/8 wave mag mount on it. Even a small window AC unit should provide enough of a ground plane for the antenna to work. Plus a 5/8 wave will give you a bit of gain. You won't set any VHF distance records, but at least your antenna will be outside!

I have a Yaesu FT-3000M that is showing only 55 watts into a dummy load on high power (should be 70 watts). I have no service manual available. After a Google search I have found several references to how easily the problem is corrected, but no one says how to do it! Hopefully it's just a quick trimmer pot adjustment. Anybody know the procedure? Thanks in advance!

Yaesu Parts will have them. The radio bracket is a standard MMB-36, which was fairly inexpensive as I recall, maybe $7 - $8. As far as the mounting for the control head, I bought a spare bezel (the part that attaches the head to the radio body). Yaesu calls it a "sub panel assembly", and the part number is RA0539800. I think it cost a whopping $2.50. Actually I got two of them so I could cut and drill on one for a customized mount in my car, and if I messed it up I had an extra! It works great and the rig almost looks factory installed. The number for Yaesu's parts department is 714-827-7600.

Is anyone familiar with this antenna? I just picked one up on eBay but can't find any info on the 'net about it. It seems to be a dual bander, with great SWR on 2 meters and OK SWR on 440. I even tried searching on some international search engines (UK and Hong Kong) with no luck. I really don't need any hard information, just curious about it.

That helps a lot. Thanks all for your replies!

Several of us here in east central Florida have also been experiencing an unusually high level of atmospheric noise on HF.

I am experimenting with a multi-element dipole array for VHF, similar to the old Cushcraft AFM-4DA or the DB Products DB224. What I need is the dimensions for the phasing harness. I've searched online but can't find any information. Can anyone help? Thanks!

In addition to WA3SKN's suggestions, use the minimum power necessary to maintain a reliable signal into the chosen repeater. Your signal doesn't have to be 100% full quieting, just as long as it is solid and copiable. If you are receiving both repeaters as well as you say, a good narrow beamwidth Yagi and 5 to 10 watts should be plenty to access either machine.

Most of the manual is available online at the RS website:

http://support.radioshack.com/support_electronics/58158.htm

Gives a whole new meaning to the term, "well-grounded antenna!"

Thanks for all the help! I finally found someone at the post office who knew what I was talking about and will order some for me.