murdock57

Right on haha…Thanks for the response and your helpful content - looking forward to an updated video on what your go-to setup is these days! This was the direction I was leaning- thanks for letting me know it worked out well for ya! The BNC feels like it’s probably the most “official” setup, though I’m sure I could finagle an o-ring and washers effectively too

I went back and watched @OffRoaderX video here talking about his favorite HTs and one was the UV-9G with the Smiley slim duck (same thing I’m running). I noticed in the video that his radio had the same gap at the base I’m seeing on mine. Randy, if you see this and can chime in on your experience with using the radio in this configuration out in the elements, I’d appreciate it! I also saw someone mention on Reddit that a Smiley BNC base connector might fill the gap…I’ll probably look into that as well. Thanks again for the replies!

Thanks for the ideas - I’m not necessarily worried about water or debris getting in the gap if it’s not harmful to the radio…but I’m just not sure if that gap contributes to the IP67 rating. Maybe I can find a tear down video that would give some greater insight.

I just picked up a (Smiley Antenna Slim Duck 465MHz 5/8 Wave GMRS & NOAA SMA-F) antenna and initial testing on my Baofeng UV-9G have me convinced this is easily the best antenna I’ve tried so far (stock/Nagoya 701g/Nagoya 771g) in terms of performance. However when the antenna is screwed on, it’s slim profile leaves a large gap at the antenna base where water/dust/dirt can easily ingress (I’m honestly not sure if this will hurt anything or if this area is also sealed below the metal antenna base). The Smiley comes with a fairly thick rubber washer, so it seems like there’s a seal where the antenna threads with the base but the gap around the antenna (which is filled with the stock or Nagoya) has me less than confident about taking the radio (which claims to be IP67) outdoors. Anyone have experience with a Smiley antenna gap and if I should be worried or if there’s a recommended washer/spacer I could use in conjunction? (see pic for reference)