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