2m 70cm antenna options?

[Moleculo]

The thing about handhelds is that they serve a useful purpose when used with the right expectations. Where I live, I have about 200 repeaters at my disposal that blanket the whole area. Many of these repeaters are linked and are located far above sea level...like 6000-8000 feet high. Because of that, I can use an HT to talk over a HUGE local footprint, and with the linked systems I can talk to most of the major cities in the western U.S. with just a handheld from just about anywhere in California. That doesn't make the HT so useless, does it?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Ditto here Tim. With a simple HT in my living room I can access the linked repeater with half a watt and talk anywhere in the Maritimes which includes all of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island and it's all by radio,no IRLP or Echo link at all. I have no need for a large vertical or yagi for 2m FM. A simple J-pole is more than I need.

 

[eagle1911]

The reason I did it CJ is because of your attitude not because of what you said is wrong. What you say is true regarding antenna performance etc but you really need to step back and look at what the person really wants to get out of his station setup. You constantly berate someone for using a J-pole as a first antenna and have even suggested they get a high gain verticle with a mast mount preamp and a tower feed it all with heliax or a minimum of LMR-400. that's all fine if they really wanted to work stations as far away as possible however a lot of people simply do not want to do that. That does not make them any less of a ham. Instead of politely explaining the limitations of their set up you jump right in and berate them telling them they have crap for a set up and what YOU think they should have. That is the WRONG approach. If you want more people to join the ranks then the best approach is to explain the limitations they have and then suggest alternate equipment for them that they CAN AFFORD.You do not have to come across as an egotistical elitist like you do. The world of ham radio has changed like it or not and while I myself wish it did require more electronic theory on the exam I have come to accept that we will never see that kind of entrance exam again. I believe you to be the kind of person that detests this fact by your previous posts where you stated that you wish CW was still a requirement and that the exams should be tougher and that a newly licensed ham that just bought a $100 HT is not a REAL ham but rather someone that you laugh at. That speaks volumes about the kind of person you are.

Dude's got no tact.. and it seems to me that he's not interested in tact. The only thing that guy's interested in is being a jackass to every single person he views as beneath his "standards".

To me, people like Channel Jumper rob the hobby of it's pleasure, and in so doing hurt it more than almost any other kind of substandard operator. Unless they can learn to accept others and their points of view, IMO these kinds of people should be shunned in the hobby and avoided at all costs.

It's one thing to disagree, and quite another to be a condescending jerk at every opportunity. We all have disagreements from time to time, and it's not a problem to state one's feelings, but there's no need for rudeness every single time a person opens their mouth.

 

[parttimehammer]

I hate to break up a rousing argument, but do you think we could get this back on to the subject of 2m 70cm antenna?

What would someone recommend for a mag mount in my car?

 

[eagle1911]

If you're talking about mobile dual-band antennas I recommend the Comet SBB-5 NMO. It's what I've been using for some time now, although I always recommend a trunk-lip NMO mount rather than a mag mount. It's non-intrusive, it's MUCH stronger than a mag-mount, and it provides a better ground. The SBB5-NMO is also flat-black and doesn't look crazy like many ham antennas do. Very subtle.. which I like.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

The magmounts that morse123 posted a while back are good. One thing to be wary of when you connect a bigger antenna to an HT is that it makes the HT much more susceptible to front end overload and intermod. What this means is that since the HT was designed to originally work with a small antenna it was a pretty sensitive receiver and since it is small there is little space to include out of band filtering. Since most HT's today receive well outside the ham bands anyway any filtering would be considered undesirable anyway. What this all means is that with the much stronger signal provided by the bigger antenna the receiver may overload and start causing you to hear signals that are not really on the ham bands. High powered paging and weather broadcast stations are notorious for that. Each case is different as each radio is different as well as possible sources of interference change from one place to the next but I just want you to be aware of the possible problem associated with connecting a larger higher gain antenna to an HT.

 

[depark]

You should look at Nagoya Antennas. They are cheap and work well. I have the NA-401(8") and NA-771(15") for my yaesu VX8-DR. Several other Search & Rescue members also have the same antennas. We opperate in the mountains around Kelowna, British Columbia. There are also ham club members that ues them. Nagoya has several different modles to choose from. I ordered mine from 409shop.com. Here is the link to the SMA-Female (2 Band) antennas.

SMA- Female(2 Band) - 409Shopwww.409shop.com

Check them out. Like I said they work well and are cheap ($10-$13).

 

[parttimehammer]

Are those meant for HT or car mounted?

How can those be that good being so cheap?

 

[eagle1911]

I believe those are "rubber ducks" for HTs. Price isn't always the determining factor when dealing with antennas.. often it is, but not always.

For solid reviews of nearly every ham-related item you can imagine you can go to http://www.eham.net/reviews/. Have a look at the Nagoya offerings that are there for an idea of where they rank on the quality chain. IIRC they're not too bad, but there are better brands out there.

 

[Moleculo]

There's also a guy on ebay that sells tons of these Nagoya antennas configured with every possible antenna connector. He also sells the little gumdrop rare earth mag mount antennas with all the various connectors. Those little rare earth magmount antennas are just 1/4 wave antennas, but they can work OK if you don't need to communicate at extreme distances. The whips flex back a little, but it hasn't been a big problem for me. Put them in the center of your roof and it will work better than using the duckie antenna inside the tin can of the car. Yeah, you get some loss in that cheap cable they use, but the attenuation of using the HT in the car is worse, in my experience.

Here's a link to this guy's ebay store with all the antennas with the connector for that wouxun already atached:

RadioAccessoryShop items - Get great deals on NAGOYA Dual band ANT UT-108 SMA-Female PX-777 PX-888 items on eBay Stores!

 

[parttimehammer]

It looks as if those Nagoya antennas are sold from China via Paypal only. Am I missing something, or is it impossible to buy in a store here in the US?

 

[Mudfoot]

It looks as if those Nagoya antennas are sold from China via Paypal only. Am I missing something, or is it impossible to buy in a store here in the US?

you can buy the Diamond from Universal that requires no adapter. You can buy the Nagoya from Ebay. You can buy just about any dual band HT antenna from many US sources that require an adapter.

These radios are becoming popular and eventually they will design them with common SMA female or BNC connectors one of these days. Also, the various antenna makers will jump on board also, just like Diamond.

I feel you have been given ample assistance in finding an acceptable after market antenna.

Use google and you shall be rewarded.

Just saying...

 

[parttimehammer]

M4, ya, I was referring to the Nagoyas only seemed to be found on Ebay.

I'll review some of them, see which ones are getting solid reviews, check prices go from there. I appreciate the assistance

 

[Mudfoot]

I bought one...

I ordered an Nagoya NA-771 dual band antenna from Ebay seller: radioshop888.

I paid for it on July 4th and just got it in the mail today. Not bad shipping time from the orient. It was well packaged.

The buid quality is very nice. Reminds me of a Diamond. It has the reverse female SMA and fits the Wouxun KG-UVD1P nicely. It's just shy of 15" long.

I am not doing a technical review, but the damn thing works like a champ. I am able to bring up repeaters that I cannot do with the stock antenna. Surrounding FM broadcast stations come in much clearer. I am sold so far.

It only cost me $13.50 delivered to my front porch with 8 day transit. It looks just as well made as my Diamond SHH77CA.

 

[depark]

I ordered an Nagoya NA-771 dual band antenna from Ebay seller: radioshop888.

I paid for it on July 4th and just got it in the mail today. Not bad shipping time from the orient. It was well packaged.

The buid quality is very nice. Reminds me of a Diamond. It has the reverse female SMA and fits the Wouxun KG-UVD1P nicely. It's just shy of 15" long.

I am not doing a technical review, but the damn thing works like a champ. I am able to bring up repeaters that I cannot do with the stock antenna. Surrounding FM broadcast stations come in much clearer. I am sold so far.

It only cost me $13.50 delivered to my front porch with 8 day transit. It looks just as well made as my Diamond SHH77CA.

Another satisfied customer!