What equipment do you use to broadcast from schools, my GM is making me use a marti this year, it sucks. Its very noisy, and I can't get a clear shot. I'm thinking about quitting, I just don't want to mess with it.
Dude, don't stink a gig just because of the Marti. Are you actually going out and determining a position (days in advance) where you can get the best reception? Your antenna also makes a lot of difference. Don't just get one from Radio Shack and think all of them are the same. They're not. Get your chief to set you up with a balanced antenna that has a magnetic base. Then get a square piece of steel about 7 inches around so it sticks to the base. That way you have a place to rest it, whether that's on the floor, or a table top. We recycled an old Peavy speaker tripod and put the antenna on top of that. It worked pretty well.
For away games, we used a JK audio dialup box that interfaced with a Motorola cell phone. If you REALLY need to go on the cheap, a friend of mine (who also has about 10 stations in his own portfolio) uses a cell phone with a hands-free mic that he secures to a standard tabletop mic stand. According to him, it works pretty well. Good luck!