Laird TE Connectivity B4505C Mobile

[Major63]

I normally don't post as you can see (listen and learn mostly) however I feel I must give this antenna it's dues. I would normally get around 6-8 miles simplex, with the terrain somewhat hilly around here, I tried this antenna from The Antenna Farm. The Laird came 1:5 SWR out of the box, I'm using a tram 1486 for a base up 30ft. I was amazed at 10 miles but then 12mi and my wife said I was still transmitting very clear and she had just a little static, at 12mi. I would have been going thru town if I went any farther so I turned around thinking with all the buildings I would have lost her, but who knows. Maybe the conditions were just right also but I will test again for sure. For $45 you can't beat it. 73s

WRKW781

KF0FWE

[PACNWComms]

Great antennas.....have used these and similar variants for years on fleet vehicles for commercial and public safety users. This version of coil also does not get caught in car wash brushes or cloth flaps (we tell end users to hand wash the cars but they do not listen) as often as the exposed coil version too. 

Some have lasted so long that they only fail (after years of use) when the center conductor spring has corroded into  pieces, breaking the connection between the antenna and NMO mount. This is in a very wet environment, the Pacific Northwest, so everything gets wet over time.

As for the 12 miles, you should try again as they do tend to get a bit further out, depending on what you are talking into (in my case it is a UHF repeater network, so 12-16 miles is common with a GMRS mobile.

[wayoverthere]

I had the 70cm version (the BB4303), and was able to hear fairly clearly and just barely break squelch on a repeater 90ish miles away. Definitely impressed. If I didn't already have that Midland 1/2 wave for gmrs, that 4503 is probably what I'd be running.

The only reason it's not still on the truck is I switched from a single band (vertex, 70cm+gmrs) radio to a dual bander (icom, 2m+70cm) with a separate radio for gmrs.

[gortex2]

Most commercial antenna's will work much better than the ham/hobby stuff people buy on amazon. Laird makes gear for public safety, and commercial markets. The antenna is one of the most important parts of the equation when it comes to RF so buying quality normally helps. I do run that antenna on some of our SAR vehicles for our TLMR stuff. Works well.

 

[kidphc]

its a great antenna. Built like a tank more so then a lot of the other available antenna especially compared to it's chinacom couterparts.