Recommendation - Diamond X50C2 Base Antenna

[WRVE445]

Just wanted to let everyone know of the great experience I've had with this antenna.  I've used GMRS on and off for years (previously had a license years ago).  I've tried MANY antenna as a base antenna, and never found anything that performed well for my particular situation.  

I live in a valley, mountains on 3 sides (Alabama mountains, so not huge), and my city and the closest repeater are on the other side of the mountain.  My elevation is roughly 700ft, and the closest repeater (21 miles away) is at 755ft.  The mountain between peaks at around 1211ft.  After many iterations of different antenna, I could never hear the repeater, much less be able to key it.

With the Diamond X50C2, I can hit the repeater from home!  Added bonus - it's multi-band, so it will also work on MURS frequencies (I really wanted this since VHF does better than UHF over mountains).

The antenna is pretty wide-banded (advertised as 145-162 and 445-469, but has acceptable SWR outside of this, specifically HAM 2M and 70cm), and right at 5' tall, so it's not a monster antenna.  I highly recommend this antenna!

[Lscott]

25 minutes ago, WRVE445 said:

The antenna is pretty wide-banded (advertised as 145-162 and 445-469, but has acceptable SWR outside of this, specifically HAM 2M and 70cm), and right at 5' tall, so it's not a monster antenna.  I highly recommend this antenna!

Do you have any reliable SWR measurements you made for the various bands/frequencies used?

[WRVE445]

1 hour ago, Lscott said:

Do you have any reliable SWR measurements you made for the various bands/frequencies used?

I don't off the top of my head - but at both MURS and GMRS, it was around 1.2-1.5:1 throughout both frequencies.  I'll try to get some measurements (and record them) after a while.

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, WRVE445 said:

I don't off the top of my head - but at both MURS and GMRS, it was around 1.2-1.5:1 throughout both frequencies.  I'll try to get some measurements (and record them) after a while.

I would be interested in seeing them. Sometimes antennas perform better than the manufacture's specifications.

[WRVE445]

On 2/2/2023 at 12:51 PM, Lscott said:

Do you have any reliable SWR measurements you made for the various bands/frequencies used?

OK, got some measurements.

For GMRS frequencies, (462 - 468), it climbs steadily throughout the band.  Starts at 1.2 @ 462, and rises to just under 2.0 @ 468.

MURS is excellent across the band - starting at less than 1.5 @ 150 and dropping to around 1.25 @ 155.

2 meter is totally workable throughout the band, third picture below shows.

70cm is kind of all over the place, but lots of workable frequencies.

 

[Lscott]

6 hours ago, WRVE445 said:

OK, got some measurements.

For GMRS frequencies, (462 - 468), it climbs steadily throughout the band.  Starts at 1.2 @ 462, and rises to just under 2.0 @ 468.

MURS is excellent across the band - starting at less than 1.5 @ 150 and dropping to around 1.25 @ 155.

2 meter is totally workable throughout the band, third picture below shows.

70cm is kind of all over the place, but lots of workable frequencies.

 

Thanks for the measurements. Too bad the antenna isn't that great on the Ham 70cm band, but then it wasn't designed for it either. It's a bonus that it works as well as it does on 2M.