Amazon Mobile Antenna Ripoff

[BC Coyote]

So I ordered from Amazon what was advertised as a Wilson K-40 antenna, but what arrived is something called a K30 made by, wait for it, the K40 Antenna Company ! No connection to Wilson whatsoever.
It matches up fine so long as I keep the output power of my 6666 under 15 watts, any more than that and SWR skyrockets and trips the radios SWR protection. And to think it's advertised as handling 300 watts LOL. Garbage. Useless Crap. Mobile antenna buyers beware !

 

[AudioShockwav]

Wilson , and several other antenna company's are now owned by DAS, aka Road Pro.
Same company that chopped down the Max 2000 to save on shipping costs.
Wilson and all of these.




73
Jeff

 

[BC Coyote]

Yeah, Road Pro is what is on the packaging. I'm annoyed that they advertised it as a Wilson K40 when it's neither of those things ! I owned an original K40 back in the late 80's and it was a fantastic antenna. This thing I just got is garbage.
Everything costs a fortune in Canada these days and on top of that we live in a remote location and sending something back to Amazon is very difficult from here, so I will just have to eat the $80 I spent and order another antenna.

 

[undertaker]

Never heard of a Wilson K40 .... that ain't right!!

 

[Eldorado828]

Just FYI, Tram makes a pretty good mag mount antler.

 

[lonestarbandit]

Yeah, Road Pro is what is on the packaging. I'm annoyed that they advertised it as a Wilson K40 when it's neither of those things ! I owned an original K40 back in the late 80's and it was a fantastic antenna. This thing I just got is garbage.
Everything costs a fortune in Canada these days and on top of that we live in a remote location and sending something back to Amazon is very difficult from here, so I will just have to eat the $80 I spent and order another antenna.

Guess I better hold on to the 2 wilson 1000s I have somewhere in the garage.
No telling what roadpro has done to those. Bad luck they cheated you three ways. The k30 was the dime store baby brother of the k40 trading on the name. So you didn't even get the proper fake.

 

[BC Coyote]

Well this is embarrassing ! Crow eating time... Egg on face..... etc. etc.
The antenna was fine, it was the radios low voltage protection kicking in when I went over 15 watts, because I didn't have the engine running in the car ! I didn't even know the 6666 had low voltage protection until today........
With the engine on and the antenna shortened by a couple inches it all matches up and works great. Remains to be seen how well the pseudo-K40 performs.

 

[lonestarbandit]

No no you said you ordered a k40 and got a k30? Still robbed. But glad it may at least work!

 

[FlatlandBusa]

It's likely you got a fake from Amazon. I ordered a Garmin watch for the wife and everything about it looked right, packaging, straps, case. The only clue it was a fake was the manual was incorrect and the software was wrong and wouldn't update from the Garmin webpage. There was a reason it was $120 less. I stopped ordering anything expensive from Amazon after that.

 

[BC Coyote]

It's likely you got a fake from Amazon.

Yes, I think you are probably right. There are other telltale signs like the red decal that is rubbing off and the ridiculous thin magnet cover on the underside.

However, I did eventually get it hooked to the Anytone with a decent match. I usually operate on the upper end of the band, so I cut it for center at 27.5 MHz and SWR is flat on that frequency. SWR is acceptable from 27.2 up to 27.8 MHz or so;
so it matches up OK, but who knows if it will actually radiate and make any contacts LOL!
Full details tomorrow on the news at 11 har har !

 

[lonestarbandit]

Idk, that sounds about right for roadpro owned companies if recent Astatic products are anything to go by. Heheh.
You may have a very "authentic" pos there!

 

[BC Coyote]

Well the verdict is in and the darn pseudo-K40 antenna actually works OK! Mark me astonished.
Drove up the road and pulled off at a random spot. Asked for a radio check on 415 and both Indiana and Arizona came back! Who woulda thunk it !

 

[lonestarbandit]

I'd not of thunk it. But hooray for the not complete ripoff!

 

[w9cll]

The K30 is not a bad antenna, I ran one on ten meters for a while.

 

[BC Coyote]

I'll admit I'm surprised how well it works. I know conditions are pretty good right now but with just a barefoot Anytone 6666 and that K30 I'm making lots of mobile contacts !