Antenna Opinions

NCLivingBrit

Well-Known Member
2A Bourbon Hound 2024
2A Bourbon Hound OG
Supporting Member
Multi-Factor Enabled
Joined
Dec 16, 2016
Messages
22,166
Location
Reidsville NC
Rating - 100%
69   0   0
After rereading the apt rules I figure my best bet between usefulness and ease of use is going to be some sort of roll up 2m/70cm antenna I can hang from my porch when in use.

EDIT: I am not looking to build my own antenna, just looking for opinions on a practical and reasonable priced one.

Anyone got opinions about these two? Both have been recommended elsewhere.

N9TAX antennas roll up Slim Jim

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/321819896093

Nelson antennas roll up Slim Jim

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/190898779511

Also as they claim to be tuned do I need a SWR meter at this stage? It's not really in the current budget.
 
Last edited:
You can build one yourself, use stranded wire and hang it up, or solid for permanent installations.



For 2M only, take look at half square antenna, easy to hang on a wall behind a picture or in a window.
half square.gif
 
Neat setup but everything tool related I own bar a few basics is stored away. Apt living doesn't afford me work or storage space this time. I'm loathe to do anything with a torch in here because there's damn sprinkler heads everywhere.

Also by the time I order all the parts and any tools (just a torch is half the cost of the premade antenna and mine is absent) I need to do this I'd likely have spent at least as much money. I'm new enough I'd rather just find a reasonable cost premade.
 
Last edited:
Use yellow electrical wire nuts instead of a torch or soldering iron for the connections.
Use #12 stranded THHN wire from Home Depot or Lowes.
These work great for dipole wire antenna connections as well as for power.
 
Last edited:
Use yellow electrical wire nuts instead of a torch or soldering iron for the connections.
Use #12 stranded THHN wire from Home Depot or Lowes.
These work great for dipole wire antenna connections as well as for power.

Like I said, not really wanting to build right now.
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
Brit, Would you be able to get the antenna much higher than your apartment balcony? If not, you may want to try an extended whip first like the Comet SMA-24 or Nagoya 771. (Assuming you are using an HT)

I’ve had the N9TAX antenna you posted for 5 or 6 years. It works just fine, and required no tuning, but unless you can get it up any higher than your balcony it may not do much for you.

Another cheap temporary antenna that works surprisingly well is the Tram 1185. I have one and know a lot of people with them. If you could attach it upside down to a gutter or a vent on the eaves of roof it may work for you. It’s only $20 on Amazon I think. Includes 12’ of coax.

Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
The slim jim by N9TAX is supposedly as good as a J-pole. Buy the one with stranded wire if you plan on packing it up alot.
 
Brit, Would you be able to get the antenna much higher than your apartment balcony? If not, you may want to try an extended whip first like the Comet SMA-24 or Nagoya 771. (Assuming you are using an HT)

I’ve had the N9TAX antenna you posted for 5 or 6 years. It works just fine, and required no tuning, but unless you can get it up any higher than your balcony it may not do much for you.

Another cheap temporary antenna that works surprisingly well is the Tram 1185. I have one and know a lot of people with them. If you could attach it upside down to a gutter or a vent on the eaves of roof it may work for you. It’s only $20 on Amazon I think. Includes 12’ of coax.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

I'm on the second floor here and at about the highest point in the complex. I'd read several reviews with folks using the N9TAX against an interior wall who had good results.

I've got a knockoff 771, maybe I need a real one instead lol
 
Honestly the best antenna I have used so far on both 2m and 70cm has been the shorter ExpertPower https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Y2SPH6/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=ATW4RRWB3JMSM&psc=1

The authentic Nagoya 771 that I have seems to work ok until it flops around, then it becomes picket-fence-a-matic. The shorter Expertpower seems like a great all around Antenna for the Baofengs and the other Chicoms.

Guess that is why it's constantly in and out of stock on Amazon and the price keeps going up.
 
Does stripping 19.5" of shield off your coax count as "building"?

If not, strip 19.5" of shield off the business end of your coax cable exposing the inner conductor.
Find a way to thumbtack that end from the ceiling of your porch leaving an inch or so of clearance between the end and the ceiling. Use a lap of electrical tape around the end, leaving a 'flag' and thumbtack that flag to the ceiling of your porch (or inside... it won't make a huge difference)

Now clip 19.5" of wire to the end of the shield that you whacked back earlier. Let it hang down.

Plug the other end into your radio and make contacts. You've made a vertical half wave dipole.

Use it also on 440, where the radiation pattern will be higher than ideal, but will still exhibit decent SWR.

For a small, inconspicuous antenna, you're probably NOT going to get away with much more performance than you'll see with the 19" wire... and quite possibly less. Gain usually means an increase in antenna size, which you don't want on your porch.

There are minor things you can do to make this work better (adding more radials, angling them rather than letting them droop) but I'm betting you won't see much improvement over this vertical dipole in actual use unless you're at the very fringe area of the antenna.
 
Last edited:
Does stripping 19.5" of shield off your coax count as "building"?

If not, strip 19.5" of shield off the business end of your coax cable exposing the inner conductor.
Find a way to thumbtack that end from the ceiling of your porch leaving an inch or so of clearance between the end and the ceiling. Use a lap of electrical tape around the end, leaving a 'flag' and thumbtack that flag to the ceiling of your porch (or inside... it won't make a huge difference)

Now clip 19.5" of wire to the end of the shield that you whacked back earlier. Let it hang down.

Plug the other end into your radio and make contacts. You've made a vertical half wave dipole.

Use it also on 440, where the radiation pattern will be higher than ideal, but will still exhibit decent SWR.

For a small, inconspicuous antenna, you're probably NOT going to get away with much more performance than you'll see with the 19" wire... and quite possibly less. Gain usually means an increase in antenna size, which you don't want on your porch.

There are minor things you can do to make this work better (adding more radials, angling them rather than letting them droop) but I'm betting you won't see much improvement over this vertical dipole in actual use unless you're at the very fringe area of the antenna.

I am actually going to hide the antenna from my other thread in the roof :)
 
It is that easy :)

Think of it as making the 19" vertical element from the inner part of the coax (rather than attaching the inner part of the coax to a 19" rod). You provide the other part of the dipole antenna by clipping a 19" piece of wire from the stub end of the shield you cut off (to expose the inner conductor).

I'll make a sketch...
 
It is that easy :)

Think of it as making the 19" vertical element from the inner part of the coax (rather than attaching the inner part of the coax to a 19" rod). You provide the other part of the dipole antenna by clipping a 19" piece of wire from the stub end of the shield you cut off (to expose the inner conductor).

I'll make a sketch...

Cool, I think I get it now . I was thinking the bottom wire was like the counterpoise folks suggested I attach to the belt clip of the UV5R, but it's acting like a ground plane in this instance, right? Which I guess is what a counterpoise might be doing too lol
 
Someone already did . Here ya go

http://www.hamuniverse.com/w7lpnvertdipole.html

instead of doing what this drawing shows (bolting the inner and outer conductors of the coax to other metal pieces) just strip off the shield and outer rubber part of the coax and form it vertically (to hang) in aa 19.5-20" piece. Then just clip another piece of any old wire to the cut off end of the shield to hang down to form the other end of this dipole. You can do the "choke"winding or not... it's really not necessary.

Take the undisturbed part of the coax off at right angles as shown for 15-20" as shown.

If you're REALLY clever and dexterous you can make a hole in the coax shield and pull the inner coax out the side after taking the black jacket off.
 
Cool, I think I get it now . I was thinking the bottom wire was like the counterpoise folks suggested I attach to the belt clip of the UV5R, but it's acting like a ground plane in this instance, right? Which I guess is what a counterpoise might be doing too lol


You're exactly right! The bottom wire (attached to the shield) IS the counterpoise in this sense.

Another way of looking at it, is that the car body acts as the "missing" piece of a dipole (albeit at right angles) for a 1/4 wave vertical to load into. The frame of the UV5R and it's capacitive coupling to your hand holding the radio provides (poorly...therefore the clip on wire suggestion) the other half of the dipole in this scenario.

In the UV5R model, BOTH sides of the "dipole" are poor! That radiating element is incredibly lossy and inefficient, but at least it's working against a poor ground plane! :)
 
Last edited:
speaking of antennas:

During the hurrycun preps, I snatched a full 5 gal gas can out of the back of my truck in the dark and managed to break my Comet SB5 that was mounted on my truck bed lip behind the cab. I put it there to protect it and yet somehow I still managed to break it off!

Anyhow, I bought a cheap Tram knockoff (cheaper than cheap!) from Ebay for $22 to be an interim solution until I could get another good Jap antenna. Well lo and behind, my Diamond old-school NR770NMO.
Chrome non-foldover design? Check
Excellent SWR and range despite the less than perfect position on the truck? Check

Already hit up some 20+ mile stations on the way to work this morning with 20 watts - clear as a bell in simplex on 2M call. Pics to come
 
yeah its not perfect ;)
56a7f7911e6a5a2c15cb710845a88520.jpg
afc3b41610d803ffa32cf9846fabace5.jpg
84cd5e1c2693c552fadd1537021b2f9f.jpg
 
Back
Top Bottom