SESKStuff Everyone Should Know
SESK: Stuff Everyone Should Know · sesk.info/ham-reflect-path-repeater

Buildings block your path to a distant repeater. How might a directional antenna still reach it?

Find a path that reflects signals to the repeater.

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  1. Switch from vertical to horizontal polarization
  2. Find a path that reflects signals to the repeater ✔
  3. Raise the antenna's SWR

Why: VHF and UHF signals bounce off buildings and hills. Aiming a beam at a good reflecting surface can carry your signal around the obstruction.

Huh, didn't know that: Sometimes the best way to hit a repeater is to point your antenna somewhere else entirely.

The dad joke
My signal bounced off a skyscraper and came back. It needed time for self-reflection.
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References

Answer: Find a path that reflects signals to the repeater. VHF and UHF signals bounce off buildings and hills. Aiming a beam at a good reflecting surface can carry your signal around the obstruction.

  1. 2026-2030 Technician Class Question Pool, T3A05 ncvec.org/downloads/2026-2030%20Technician%20Pool%20and%20Syllabus%20Public%20Release%20Feb%2019%202026.pdf
    Try to find a path that reflects signals to the repeater
    Checked 2026-10-09.

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Test yourself in the game

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That's stuff everyone should know.