Success

Success! Tonight I was able to get onto the MARC Monday night net using my newly-mounted Comet GP-3 antenna and Yaesu FT-7800R. I was transmitting at 20W and hitting the 145.130 MHz repeater located in Paoli, PA. Net control NT3J reported that my signal was clear, though not quite full quieting. Shortening my feed line may help that. I'm not going to bump the transmit power up to high, since they are hearing me clearly.

Earlier, I was able to hear a net being run out of South Jersey, but on 20W they couldn't hear me. They run the net every Monday at 2000 Eastern, so I may try again next week and bump the power up to 50W, the maximum the FT-7800R will transmit on 2M.