When discussing antennas commenters often refer to their antenna as "working great." However, while I am sure the observation is subjectively true, it is a whole different question as to how "great" the antenna is in objective terms. In other words. Unless you test the antennas in a well equipped and controlled environment it is virtually impossible to draw any concrete conclusions.
A big part of the difficulty in judging a UHF antenna's performance lies in the nature of how we observe them in use. It is pretty simple, do we get good connections to the stations we are communicating with? Given the nature of UHF, in most cases we are looking to contact stations relatively close to us and would probably succeed with a tuned coat-hanger. A secondary problem, especially for people coming from CB is that FM reception behaves quite differently than AM. AM tends to fade all the way to the point where the noise over-comes the signal. However, FM tends to go from intelligible to non-existent very quickly. Thus, if we receive the signal at all, it tends to be good enough for conversation.
There are also a host of other issues, like bandwidth and propagation pattern that may be important in some applications and irrelevant in others. And, finally, there are the mechanical factors ((like corrosion) that are usually only observed after a period of a few months or years.
All of which is to say, and this is strictly my own opinion: Unlike the ham low-bands where you can, and in some cased (low-power/QRP) must spend more on the antenna than the radio, for most GMRS uses, that is not the case. The perfect GMRS antenna is probably gong to be the lowest priced antenna that meets your basic communication needs* and is built by someone you trust to make quality products. Unfortunately, in GMRS there is no magic perfect antenna.
* terrain (elevation changes), distance, mobil, fixed or portable, power, etc.
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berkinet
When discussing antennas commenters often refer to their antenna as "working great." However, while I am sure the observation is subjectively true, it is a whole different question as to how "great" the antenna is in objective terms. In other words. Unless you test the antennas in a well equipped and controlled environment it is virtually impossible to draw any concrete conclusions.
A big part of the difficulty in judging a UHF antenna's performance lies in the nature of how we observe them in use. It is pretty simple, do we get good connections to the stations we are communicating with? Given the nature of UHF, in most cases we are looking to contact stations relatively close to us and would probably succeed with a tuned coat-hanger. A secondary problem, especially for people coming from CB is that FM reception behaves quite differently than AM. AM tends to fade all the way to the point where the noise over-comes the signal. However, FM tends to go from intelligible to non-existent very quickly. Thus, if we receive the signal at all, it tends to be good enough for conversation.
There are also a host of other issues, like bandwidth and propagation pattern that may be important in some applications and irrelevant in others. And, finally, there are the mechanical factors ((like corrosion) that are usually only observed after a period of a few months or years.
All of which is to say, and this is strictly my own opinion: Unlike the ham low-bands where you can, and in some cased (low-power/QRP) must spend more on the antenna than the radio, for most GMRS uses, that is not the case. The perfect GMRS antenna is probably gong to be the lowest priced antenna that meets your basic communication needs* and is built by someone you trust to make quality products. Unfortunately, in GMRS there is no magic perfect antenna.
* terrain (elevation changes), distance, mobil, fixed or portable, power, etc.
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