What is your favorite 2m/440mhz vertical (omni) antenna?

[the_sandman_454]

Just like the title says, what is your favorite 2m/70cm dual band vertical antenna setup? How do you have it set up? How high do you have it set up?

I'm going to be aquiring an 2m/70cm dual band antenna soon and I'm just curious what y'all use...

 

[Master Chief]

For the car or the house?

 

[Highlander_821]

I use the Workman UVS-300. It is a less expensive clone of the dual band collinear offerings from Diamond, Comet, etc. It is about 17 feet tall, and I think it is 3x 5/8 wave on 2meters, and 6x 5/8 wave on 440. It was about 80 bucks from R and L electronics in Ohio, I have it mounted on a roof mount tripod with a 10 foot mast, probably 30 feet at the feedpoint. It works very well, has been up 3 years now, no problems, very pleased with it.

 

[novakor]

Diamond X200A at 30ft. 6.0/8.0 gain 200 watts max power rating,feeding with 50ft. of cable experts 1318 low loss feedline. It's been up 3 years without any problems.

 

[C2]

That sounds good...I was using a NMO 2/70C Radiall/Larsen on the mobile...it works good but not as much gain as the Diamond X200A. What configuration is that one (2-5/8 and 4-5/8)? The Radiall Larsen Kulrod is a center loaded 1/2 wave in 2m and collinear 5/8 wave on 70cm with gain of 3.8/5.2 dBi. chrome whip.

For the home I use an 11-element yagi for 70cm and a homebrew direct connect 4-element yagi that I built from the plans at antenna elmer.

 

[novakor]

C2 my diamond X200A is for base ops.Yes your are correct,element phasing is 2 5/8 & 4 5/8. For mobile i use a Tech America dual bander with 5.0/7.6 gain,150 watt max power rating and lenght is 58".Works great.

 

[C2]

Now you see what you did? I have to get a new antenna!

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

Hey..

The Dual Band Antenna i use for the Base is a Comet GP-9
it's a vertical 5/8 wave about 18 feet tall..

it does 8.6 Dbi on 2 meters and 12.6 Dbi on 70 cm band
it is rated for 200 or 300 watts
(although i never use more then 120 watts)

mine is mounted on roof of 3 story building to chimney with additional 15 feet of mast (and has 4 guy wires)
the base of the antenna is at 46 feet height

It works Extremly well for me..
on 440 band with just 1 half watt i regularly and easily talk to repeaters 75-80 miles away (this dispite a small city of nyc mahatten being between me and many of the long island repeaters i use)regardless if i am using my IC-7000,706MKIIG or hook my T-90A ht to it(and as yet i have no linears)

Although it is a great antenna..
if and when it becomes nessesary to replace it (i have been using it maybe 4 years now) i will replace it with a bigger antenna by..
which is Dimond X700HNA Dualband Base/Repeater Antenna
at 24 feet height
http://www.rfparts.com/diamond/x700hna.html

with these frequencys....loss becomes a issue rather fast..
so i Highly Recomend using N connectors as well as hard line coax...
(i know many will say rubbish..it is over kill and not needed..but
i am right here...lol)

Later

 

[CDX1220]

i use the comet gp-3 dual band 4.5db at 146,and 7.2db440mhz
rated at 200w,i can reach repeaters well over 100 miles,both on 2m and 440mhz,and its only ten feet of the ground.a vertical 5/8 wave about 5 feet tall.

 

[2M Guy]

I like this one so far. Cost around 5$ to make.

I have Larsens on the cars. Had a Hustler, it broke after hitting a low tree.

Working on a 6 ele quad, weather is better, might get it done.

 

[jonbah]

Hay 2M Guy is that a J-Pole in the background?

Good coax is the key for a good 2 meter or 440 antenna setup. You would be amazed with the differance in receive.

I use a old Cushcraft AR-270 ground plane its about 20' long at about 70 feet. I'm not impressed with it at all. Its gotta go !

I just want a simple 5/8th wave like the ARX 2/70


Jonbah

 

[2M Guy]

Yeah, thats a jpole. Had fun making it, teh puny one does as well or better. Gonna be easy to hike it up a bit. I do need to upgrade coax. Loss at VHF is high. ASAP, I'm gonna get LMR 400. Using 8X now, crap for VHF, but I have a bunch laying around.

 

[NorthStar]

I run the CushCraft AR270B with LMR 400 it doesn't do too bad.

 

[jonbah]

Northstar-

I had high hopes for my AR-270B but it just doesn't seem to do the job it should. It may be broken inside or have some water in it, I'll have to disassemble it and check it out someday.


Jonbah