Long and Short SMA antennas for GMRS handheld radios

[pcradio]

I know the Nagoya NA-771G is highly recommended for small hand-held radios. I'm playing around with a Retevis RT76P and a Radioddity GM-30. I assume the Radioddity RD-332 is actually a renamed Nagoya antenna. Anyway, these are 15" antennas. I like that, but I also want a really short one, like less than 5" for times when I know I'll be really close to a contact, like in a building or warehouse.

Any good options that are GMRS optimized? Or does it matter for so short a distance? What's a good tiny antenna?

Thank you

[WyoJoe]

20 minutes ago, pcradio said:

I know the Nagoya NA-771G is highly recommended for small hand-held radios. I'm playing around with a Retevis RT76P and a Radioddity GM-30. I assume the Radioddity RD-332 is actually a renamed Nagoya antenna. Anyway, these are 15" antennas. I like that, but I also want a really short one, like less than 5" for times when I know I'll be really close to a contact, like in a building or warehouse.

Any good options that are GMRS optimized? Or does it matter for so short a distance? What's a good tiny antenna?

Thank you

For short distances, the stock antenna should be sufficient. I doubt you'd notice any perceptible difference between it and an aftermarket antenna on short distance communication. I believe there's another Nagoya model (NA-701G?) that's a similar length to the stock antenna, but I haven't heard or seen much about it or its performance.

If you're looking for something even shorter than that, there are some stubby dual band (ham) antennas that I've seen, but most of the reviews I've read mention that their performance suffers, except when in very close proximity. Those reviews were for ham radio usage, so I'd expect the antenna wouldn't fare any better on GMRS. There may be others that have had different experiences, though, so you'd have to make your own judgement.

One other option is the Smiley 5/8 slim antenna. It's a stubby 5/8 wave HT antenna that's 4.5 inches long - a little shorter than the stock antenna, but longer than the stubby antennas mentioned above. I haven't tried it, though, so I can't comment on my experience with it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many reviews either, so I can't advise if it performs better than the stock antenna, though based on the specs, it looks like it should.

https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-5-8-slim-duck-465mhz-gmrs-noaa-sma-f/

[wayoverthere]

30 minutes ago, WyoJoe said:

For short distances, the stock antenna should be sufficient. I doubt you'd notice any perceptible difference between it and an aftermarket antenna on short distance communication. I believe there's another Nagoya model (NA-701G?) that's a similar length to the stock antenna, but I haven't heard or seen much about it or its performance.

If you're looking for something even shorter than that, there are some stubby dual band (ham) antennas that I've seen, but most of the reviews I've read mention that their performance suffers, except when in very close proximity. Those reviews were for ham radio usage, so I'd expect the antenna wouldn't fare any better on GMRS. There may be others that have had different experiences, though, so you'd have to make your own judgement.

One other option is the Smiley 5/8 slim antenna. It's a stubby 5/8 wave HT antenna that's 4.5 inches long - a little shorter than the stock antenna, but longer than the stubby antennas mentioned above. I haven't tried it, though, so I can't comment on my experience with it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many reviews either, so I can't advise if it performs better than the stock antenna, though based on the specs, it looks like it should.

https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-5-8-slim-duck-465mhz-gmrs-noaa-sma-f/

I know it's slightly different tuning, but I grabbed a 701c (before they came out with the -g versions), and didnt really notice a difference vs the stock antenna (other than its flexibility).

[WyoJoe]

4 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:

I know it's slightly different tuning, but I grabbed a 701c (before they came out with the -g versions), and didnt really notice a difference vs the stock antenna (other than its flexibility).

That is more or less what I was expecting to hear about the 701 antennas...

[mbrun]

I know the Nagoya NA-771G is highly recommended for small hand-held radios. I'm playing around with a Retevis RT76P and a Radioddity GM-30. I assume the Radioddity RD-332 is actually a renamed Nagoya antenna. Anyway, these are 15" antennas. I like that, but I also want a really short one, like less than 5" for times when I know I'll be really close to a contact, like in a building or warehouse.

Any good options that are GMRS optimized? Or does it matter for so short a distance? What's a good tiny antenna?

Thank you

From personal experience, the 771G offers only about 5-10% more range than the stock antenna (on my radios at least). This means that unless you are working in the absolute fringe zone of the repeater or another simplex user, you are likely to notice little or no improvement from the longer antenna. I own the 771G but have switched back to the shorter stock antenna. The minimal added benefit of the longer antenna for me did not outweigh the convenience of a shorter one. The 701 is a shorter alternative to the 771.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[pcradio]

Thank you for the ideas. I should've provided more clarity on the short option. I want a short one, even with bad range, so that the handheld is really pocket-able. For when I'm in a building and only need 1,000ft range and such. I do see these really stubby options online. It won't hurt the radio will it? That was kinda my concern.

[daschnoz]

Be careful with those 3"-ish stubby antennas.  Some have been known/found to have VERY bad SWRs, others are apparently pretty decent (I don't have any).  I suspect that going cheap on these would not be a good idea.

[mbrun]

Thank you for the ideas. I should've provided more clarity on the short option. I want a short one, even with bad range, so that the handheld is really pocket-able. For when I'm in a building and only need 1,000ft range and such. I do see these really stubby options online. It won't hurt the radio will it? That was kinda my concern.

No, a stubby antenna will not hurt the radio so long as it is designed to operate within the GMRS band. You will find that most smaller antennas are rated for a pretty wide frequency range.

Check out BuyTwoWayRadios.Com, they may have one that suits your needs.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[ke4lqy]

On 8/20/2021 at 12:51 AM, WyoJoe said:

For short distances, the stock antenna should be sufficient. I doubt you'd notice any perceptible difference between it and an aftermarket antenna on short distance communication. I believe there's another Nagoya model (NA-701G?) that's a similar length to the stock antenna, but I haven't heard or seen much about it or its performance.

If you're looking for something even shorter than that, there are some stubby dual band (ham) antennas that I've seen, but most of the reviews I've read mention that their performance suffers, except when in very close proximity. Those reviews were for ham radio usage, so I'd expect the antenna wouldn't fare any better on GMRS. There may be others that have had different experiences, though, so you'd have to make your own judgement.

One other option is the Smiley 5/8 slim antenna. It's a stubby 5/8 wave HT antenna that's 4.5 inches long - a little shorter than the stock antenna, but longer than the stubby antennas mentioned above. I haven't tried it, though, so I can't comment on my experience with it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many reviews either, so I can't advise if it performs better than the stock antenna, though based on the specs, it looks like it should.

https://bettersaferadio.com/smiley-antenna-5-8-slim-duck-465mhz-gmrs-noaa-sma-f/

It should be noted that a 5/8 wave antenna is an antenna that is physically 5/8's of a wave long and a loading coil is used at the base to make up the 3/8's difference from a full wave. ground radials are needed for the antenna to function properly. At 462Mhz a 5/8 wave antenna is 16 inches long.  for a handheld radio's "rubber duck" a quarter wave is 6.33 inches long or a 3 quarter wave is about 19 inches long either will give the best performance with the 3/4 wave radiating more tword the horizon and the 1/4 wave radiating more streight up and out. Remember Rubber duck antennas have an average loss of 6db.   As far as "a good tiny antenna"... there is no such thing.