Decent 2m/70cm handheld antenna?

[5thElement]

Just wondered if anyone could recommend a decent 2m/70cm handheld antenna? there's so many to choose from and i bet half of them are ****! so i wondered if anyone can recommend one they've used with good results.

Will be for a VX-7R i just acquired as the stock antenna is pretty poor, especially on vhf.

Thanks

[rob.rcs]

Originally posted by 5thElement
Just wondered if anyone could recommend a decent 2m/70cm handheld antenna? there's so many to choose from and i bet half of them are ****!

I can tell you that those 'stubby' Watson aerials are rubbish and a complete waste of £12. The best one I've used was made by 'Comet', but I can't remember the actual model no. It was quite long and very flexible, with a thicker base section and BNC connector. You can probably buy them with the SMA type connector as well nowadays. ;)

[G0NIG]

I use a Diamond SRH771 on my Kenwood THF7E. It seems to suit the handheld and its extended coverage quite well, and is definately an improvement over the supplied antenna.

Specs are:

SRH771
144/430MHz(2m/70cm),120/150/300/450/900MHz for receiving only.

Gain:2.15dBi(430MHz) / Impedance:50ohms / Max. power rating:10W / Length:40cm / Weight:38g
Connector:SMA-P / 1/4wave(144MHz), 1/2wave (430MHz)

Regards

Nidge (G0NIG)

[5thElement]

Originally posted by rob.rcs
I can tell you that those 'stubby' Watson aerials are rubbish and a complete waste of £12.

I learned that one the hard way lol although it is okay for close range work/close range discreet receiving, but otherwise it's hopeless lol

Originally posted by G0NIG
I use a Diamond SRH771 on my Kenwood THF7E. It seems to suit the handheld and its extended coverage quite well, and is definately an improvement over the supplied antenna.

Specs are:

SRH771
144/430MHz(2m/70cm),120/150/300/450/900MHz for receiving only.

Gain:2.15dBi(430MHz) / Impedance:50ohms / Max. power rating:10W / Length:40cm / Weight:38g
Connector:SMA-P / 1/4wave(144MHz), 1/2wave (430MHz)

Regards

Nidge (G0NIG)

Thanks, i'll have a look for it now.

[mrgsm]

Maldol AS-510 -- i have one on my vx7 better than the stock antenna..

[rob.rcs]

Originally posted by mrgsm
Maldol AS-510 -- i have one on my vx7 better than the stock antenna

'LAMCO' stock the 'Diamond' and 'Maldol' range, perhaps they could recommend one? :)

[5thElement]

I'll have a look into the Maldol one, looks not bad!

Just looked through lamco's selection and im wondering why do half the antennas have "d-star compatible" next to them, surely all antennas are? or am i missing something?

[m0cru]

i got a dual band antenna of a china man (ebay).
made by nayoga or someone? its a diamond copy and works very well, £6-7 delivered.
the longer the better.

[GW8ASD]

I'll have a look into the Maldol one, looks not bad!

Just looked through lamco's selection and im wondering why do half the antennas have "d-star compatible" next to them, surely all antennas are? or am i missing something?
Marketing hype is present even in amateur radio. :mad:
Hopefully anyone with a licence would know that but --- then again!

There are implications, under certain circumstances with regards to group delay but this does not apply to narrow bandwidth, low data rate signals.
And, if they were worrying about that, they would be specifying high grade feeder and installation techniques.

Unless someone knows better. :)

Cheers

Tony

[M3WHN]

Either use a Diamond SRH701 which is small and does 2/70. It has SMA fitting so you would have no problems there. Also try the Watson WSMA-881 super gainer. I use the supergainer when doing SOTA as I found on on Inglebrough once that it made a 5x2 go up to a decent 5x7 to Whernside.

It also got me on SOTA from Shining Tor in Derbyshire to Snowdonia in North Wales. Mind you it was made by those now illegal radios called Jingtong. It was a distance of 90 miles +/- a few miles.

[2E0ZIG]

I have tried a quad band,triple band and a dual band by Diamond and found them to be very expensive and the swr to be very poor and ended up using a Comet.
These were tried on a Icom IC-Q7e, Kenwood THF7E, and a Yaesu FT-817D.
Regards Gerry.