The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Handheld antenna, they come in so many sizes. We could guess bigger is better, but hey who wants a 50cm whopper on top of their 145 Mhz handy.

I thought it may be interesting to put a few on my RigExper analyser and see how they look on 145 Mhz.

Let’s start with the

 

NISSEI RH-9090 – around £40 (Haydon Communication)

FLEXIBLE RUBBER ANTENNA (SMA), SUPER GAINER.

  • flexible rubber antenna (SMA)
  • 40cm long
  • super gainer, for the ultimate in gain
  • TX: 2m / 70cm
  • RX: 25MHz – 2GHz
  • ideal for airband

Seems very wideband, and has a resonance on 145 MHz, good start.

 

 

NAGOYA – NA701 (ebay £1.09 free postage)

 

 

 

  • Nagoya NA-701 SMA-Female Dual Band Handheld Antenna
    Frequency: 144 / 430 MHz
    Gain: 2.15 dBi
    Height: 206mm
    Widely used on handheld Radios with SMA male interfaceSpecification:
    Frequency: 144 / 430 MHz
    Gain: 2.15dBi
    Height: 206mm
    Connector: SMA Female
    Weight: 20g

Wideband, but probably better on 158 MHz

DIAMOND SRH805S (Ebay 99p) Further comparisons in Part 2

Super Small Fake Diamond

  • 144, 430 and 1200 MHz
  • Wideband RX

Mostly useless, unable to find any freq between 50 and 220 MHz that these resonate on. Not even as good as a dummy load.,

Unable to find any use for these, but don’t take my word have a look at the plot.

 

Stock antenna on the Icom FA S270C (£18 to £25 Moonraker)

FLEXIBLE RUBBER ANTENNA (SMA), SUPER GAINER.

  • flexible rubber antenna (SMA)
  • 18cm long
  • TX: 2m / 70cm
  • RX: Wideband
  • ideal for airband

Not surprisingly it had a nice dip at 145 MHz and was the best of anything tested.

You can read more in Part 2 and Part 3

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