body is salty, like the sea

I know you guys have heard of 'getting out' around the ocean. The body is important to antennas. A 2m handheld relies on it as a counterpoise. Your hand couples to the radio chassis through capacitance and it does make a difference. Hanging a quarter wave wire works better.
Cell phones with those little short stubs count on it. Of course there is some heating in your brain...etc. Now if you take that two meter and step in front of a tall guy and just behind a short guy, you might find you are using a three element vertical beam. But It'll work better if they are hanging wire elements to their sides.

There's a lot of smoke about antennas until you learn to "see".

Could've been his wire frame eyeglasses. And those little loops around his eyes....God.!