Kim,
On the plains, you should be able to do 50 miles simplex with a mobile FM
ham transceiver, or commercial equivalent, especially if you use a mast to
elevate the 2 m antenna on the verhicles. That way, static from lightning
is not an issue as FM will reject it.
As a matter of fact, NVIS with low to ground antennas such as the 80m dipole
only 9 feet off the ground, lowered summer static to the point that it was
NOT an issue, doing NVIS and skip contacts off the low dipole at Field Day.
The improvement in Signal to Noise ratio by lowering a dipole is remarkable,
and can only be appreciated by setting up and doing it!
In past Field Days, 80 m SSB had been a lost cause due to the usual "Summer
Static" of distant thunderstorms. With a low horizontal dipole antenna, the
angle of incoming thunderstorm static is rejected, or the antenna is less
sensitive to those angles of signal arrival.
Now, if you were operating in a box partly on the TX Caprock and partly
below, you might have some trouble with simplex VHF, but if you are out on
the plains, you will likely be OK at 30 to 50 watts VHF FM simplex.
Stuart
K5KVH
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