[Comet CA-712EFC 460-470Mhz base atenna review]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:37 PM, MichaelLAX said:

What will you use for power; or is the property connected to the grid? 

The property is on the grid

[Comet CA-712EFC 460-470Mhz base atenna review]

On 7/21/2021 at 5:40 PM, oldtech said:

I have been building a portable repeater based on the Retevis RT-97. I was using a 5/8 until I received my Comet CA-712EFC. While it didn't extend my range appreciably, it did provide a very nice S/N improvement and helped fill in some 'holes' in coverage. My son lives 5 miles away in an apartment building with a lot of metal siding. He was able to find some spots in the apartment where his 4 watt handheld could hit the repeater reliably, but at best the signal was barely tolerable, lots of annoying fade.

With the Comet, he can talk from most spots in his apartment and sounds 'good', not great, but certainly a whole lot better with little fading (he still tends to forget to hold the antenna vertical).

While not in the professional, commercial, industrial duty antenna category, I would certainly rate it in the 'Prosumer' category. Easy to assemble and mount, with shrouded N connector, only a little more weight, and about the same wind load as my 5/8. My old antenna exhibited a 1.4:1 SWR attached to the RT-97. While the Comet is advertised as being 1.5 or less, when I tested it I could not see the return loss needle on my meter budge... so I rate it as 1.1 or less for my particular antenna (within my eyeball resolution of an analog SWR meter).

So all in all I am currently very pleased. We'll see how it ages.

Just wondering how you like the rt97 for local comms? I have one on order and plan on setting it up on our hunting lease. I can put that comet antenna up about 30 ft on the peak of the cabin.