Frdbronco8

Well I went and ordered one. Getting it outside on the roof is going to be a bigger project than I expected so I threw it in the attic for now. Will see if it makes a difference compared to my little 2.5db antenna I had. Swr is 1.75. Dropped to 1.4ish when I held it down in the house below the attic so I'm guessing being so close to the roofing is raising the swr a little but not enough to be too worried about. Funny thing is my Ed fong antenna was a 1.05 but didn't seem to work any better (or maybe a little worde) than the cheapo amazon antenna I was running. 

I am also sure that the antenna will do better once it is outside and above the roof. As Steve mentioned, make sure the base of the antenna is at least a half wavelength above the highest point of the your roof. That is only 1 foot.
I just noticed how close the metal rafter plates are to the end of the antenna. That can have an effect on things. I know that some people don't have much of a choice on antenna placement but an attic is far from ideal for any vertical VHF or UHF antenna.

So the difference between one S-unit and the next is 6 db. So an S9 signal is 6 db or four times the power of an S8 signal, yet makes little audible difference. S7 would be 1/16 the power of an S9 and you’d be able to easily tell the difference. 
I think (hope) putting it on your roof will help, but be sure you get it at least a half wavelength above your roof. For GMRS that’s not very much distance. 

Low SWR is desirable but does not always indicate or guarantee best radiation. Don't get caught up in that trap. A good dummy load has a very low SWR (1:1), but radiation is abysmal.

Well I went and ordered one. Getting it outside on the roof is going to be a bigger project than I expected so I threw it in the attic for now. Will see if it makes a difference compared to my little 2.5db antenna I had. Swr is 1.75. Dropped to 1.4ish when I held it down in the house below the attic so I'm guessing being so close to the roofing is raising the swr a little but not enough to be too worried about. Funny thing is my Ed fong antenna was a 1.05 but didn't seem to work any better (or maybe a little worde) than the cheapo amazon antenna I was running. 

I was eyeballing that one too but there were just enough questionable reviews to make me pause. This Comet is about the same price and a nice size but I don't want to keep buying antennas with little to no improvement.

You’re Welcome!
These inexpensive units have consistently passed the test of time. 
I picked up the Radioddity DB25-D mini-mobile to add DMR versatility to it and now if they would only add SSB; we could have the full package for 2 meters and 440 MHz. 

Although I don’t have one, I would offer this advice.  Waterproof the connection and have extra cable.  The antenna appears to have a weirdly short UHF connector, rather than an N connector, and it’s not recessed as it would be in many professional designs.  Thus, all water that runs down the body of the antenna will eventually end up at the UHF connector. Unless sealed it will eventually permeate the end of cable. Once moisture gets into the dielectric between the center conductor and the shield, you’ll need to replace the last several feet of coax and re-terminate it and then seal it.
Other than that I know nothing about the antenna and the specs reveal nothing.  It’s a piece of wire in a fiberglass radome (tube).  The only things that matter are does it work for your particular situation and how long will it last? The answer to the first appears to be yes.  You seem satisfied. As long as the fiberglass holds up against UV and the metal doesn’t corrode and the cable doesn’t fail due to moisture permeation, you might get years of satisfaction.