Thanks for the links, will check them out. Have used a n9tax slim jim for a few years, works really well. Was aware of Ed Fong but never tried one of his. The 3 Mosquitos is a new one, will check them out for sure.
I have various lengths of 2m antennas for the truck. Can sit in there with my handheld too and see what works.
My trouble was not being able to get the digirig running long enough to test an antenna. Was blowing out direwolf and later the wsjtx testing routine.
The next phase ought to be more fun. Will finally see how things work with the Baofeng. Had the digirig working fine with my FT-2980R last year with a minimum of setup or trouble. The Baofeng wasn’t easy, but am on my way now.
When I get it working well, I will next see what it takes to break it. Distance, antenna size, etc. Time permitting. Will try and force myself to add an update here.