Best HT Antenna?

[TNFrank]

I have a few different antennas from small stubbies(Diamond SRH805s) to a 3.14" longer stubby(Abbree AR-806+,my go to for my work radio) to the mid-length(8")whips and the longer 15.3" Arbbree AR-771. I'd guess that the 771's would give me the best range on par with other 771's like the Nagoya, et al. Question is are there any other antennas that might give me a bit more gain and still be portable enough or is something like a 771 type antenna about as good as it gets?

I'll not only be using it on GMRS and MURS but also on 2M, 1.25M and 70cm now that I have my Technician License. Thanks.

[Lscott]

8 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

Based on your comment, I took a look at this “5/8 rubber duck” on the Smiley website. 

It seems a contradiction in terms: an antenna is either cut to 5/8ths length or is electronically made into a “rubber duck” with coils; but it seems to me it can’t be both!

A true 5/8 should out perform a 1/2 wave or rubber dick. 

A 5/8 wave requires a good ground plane. The reason it has a slightly better gain is the reflection off of the ground. Without that reflection it's basically no better than a 1/2 wave.

And for an HT antenna you have crap for a ground plane.

https://www.w8ji.com/VHF mobile vertical.htm

 

[WRYS709]

12 minutes ago, Lscott said:

A 5/8 wave requires a good ground plane. The reason it has a slightly better gain is the reflection off of the ground. Without that reflection it's basically no better than a 1/2 wave.

And for an HT antenna you have crap for a ground plane.

https://www.w8ji.com/VHF mobile vertical.htm

 

We are talking HT antennas here and the human body holding the HT acts as the ground plane. 

In my anecdotal experience, I have always had better performance using my 5/8 2 meter telescoping antenna on my HTs, including my DSB Quansheng UV-K5(8), than either a 1/2 wave or rubber duck. 

Especially for those times a little extra “umph” gets me into a repeater or successfully complete a simplex QSO

[Lscott]

35 minutes ago, WRYS709 said:

In my anecdotal experience, I have always had better performance using my 5/8 2 meter telescoping antenna on my HTs, including my DSB Quansheng UV-K5(8), than either a 1/2 wave or rubber duck. 

A definitive test, or comparison, should be done with a field strength meter and a uniform standardized test stand. That removes any personal bias and different physical antenna setups. Any changes in the far field has to be due to gain and pattern variations. 

Qualitative comments about hitting a repeater with one antenna and not another doesn't revel any insight on why that might be the case. Too many variables to control, any one or combination, can affect the results.  

I've tried this just for antenna matching. It's much more difficult to do than one realizes. I found just slight changes in orientation and ground plane made a big difference. 

https://www.hamradio.me/antennas/ht-antenna-comparisons.html

https://reflector.sota.org.uk/t/antenna-testing-jig-swr/14791

Antenna Testing W9MDB.pdf

[WRYS709]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

A definitive test, or comparison, should be done with a field strength meter and a uniform standardized test stand…

I always appreciate your detailed reporting and if you come across one such report on testing, please post it. 

In the meantime, if my 1/2 wave 2 meter HT antenna does not get me satisfactory results, but switching to my more bulky 5/8 telescoping antenna does, I will accept the positive results as proof enough for me!

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, WRYS709 said:

In the meantime, if my 1/2 wave 2 meter HT antenna does not get me satisfactory results, but switching to my more bulky 5/8 telescoping antenna does, I will accept the positive results as proof enough for me!

That's good. The engineer in me would like to know a bit more about the "how and why" that is the case.

[TNFrank]

I ordered a Nagoya 320a to try out. I'll put it on my best radio(AR-5RM #3, see my power test video in Armature Radio section.) to see how it works. 

P.S.

This antenna is rated for 10W, my radio is putting out 11W. Is there enough "wiggle room" for it to handle the extra watt?

[SteveShannon]

33 minutes ago, TNFrank said:

I ordered a Nagoya 320a to try out. I'll put it on my best radio(AR-5RM #3, see my power test video in Armature Radio section.) to see how it works. 

P.S.

This antenna is rated for 10W, my radio is putting out 11W. Is there enough "wiggle room" for it to handle the extra watt?

Almost certainly.  Ratings are usually conservative.  Plus, you probably don’t transmit continuously for long periods of time.

[TNFrank]

Just watched a review on the 320a, the SWR was horrible especially on the 70cm band.  I'll be sending it back without even opening it. Really disappointed that Nagoya would put out a product like this. 

 

 

[LeoG]

I'd open it and test it.  Results may vary.

[SteveShannon]

4 minutes ago, LeoG said:

I'd open it and test it.  Results may vary.

This!

Testing the SWR of a handheld radio antenna is either very tricky or useless, depending upon whom you listen to. Performance is what matters. 

[OffRoaderX]

3 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:

This!

Testing the SWR of a handheld radio antenna is either very tricky or useless, depending upon whom you listen to. Performance is what matters. 

This!!

Testing the SWR of an HT antenna is impossible without very sofistikated equipment, OTHER than confirming that the antenna is not just a dead-short.

[Lscott]

12 minutes ago, TNFrank said:

Just watched a review on the 320a, the SWR was horrible especially on the 70cm band.  I'll be sending it back without even opening it. Really disappointed that Nagoya would put out a product like this. 

 

 

I would do a bit more research before sending it back. Checking the match on an HT antenna is a difficult exorcise. Lot's of ways to do it wrong and get crappy results. I've tried it myself and had trouble getting results that looked reasonable.

Read the comments about antenna testing and what the guy observed.

I did some simple tests using an older MFJ antenna analyzer. Check out the results for the  Diamond SRH320A. The results for 2M are particularly weird. 

WGP - With Ground Plane

WOGP - Without Ground plane.

Then I ran some SWR sweeps of the SRH320A using my RigExpert AA-1000 antenna analyzer with a special MFJ magnet mount using an SMA connector for HT antennas. The mount was placed on a large 36 inch by 40 inch flat sheet metal sheet for a ground plane.

https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-332s?srsltid=AfmBOoq7AleI5bQc6eePGbJ4paGCA-ZK7sBSZWARn6VL0pTjEjIYgUTy

https://old.rigexpert.com/products/antenna-analyzers/aa-1000/

Apparently, I assume, something else must be going on to get a good match on 2M when the antenna is on an HT, held in the hand and close to the body, that the testing I did does not duplicate.

https://www.diamondantenna.net/srh320a.html

 

HT-Antenna-Testing.pdf HT Antenna Tests Results.pdf Antenna Scan Results (SRH320A 1.25M GP).pdf Antenna Scan Results (SRH320A 2M GP).pdf Antenna Scan Results (SRH320A UHF GP).pdf