Best mobile ham/gmrs antenna

[wrci350]

Don't hate on me folks for posting those pics!

These were done with a NanoVNA, which is certainly not a precision instrument but is close enough for hobbyist use!

[SteveShannon]

10 minutes ago, wrci350 said:

Don't hate on me folks for posting those pics!

These were done with a NanoVNA, which is certainly not a precision instrument but is close enough for hobbyist use!

The screenshots from NanoVNA Saver are usually pretty good and while the NanoVNA isn’t labrotory grade as long as it’s calibrated for each band beforehand the results are very usable. Sure, I’d like to have a RigExpert Zoom 1500, and maybe I will get a RigExpert Zoom 650, but the NanoVNA isn’t total garbage.

[SteveShannon]

19 minutes ago, wrci350 said:

Don't hate on me folks for posting those pics!

These were done with a NanoVNA, which is certainly not a precision instrument but is close enough for hobbyist use!

Those are very good pictures.  Based on those sweeps, if I wanted one antenna to cover the greatest  range (albeit not the lowest SWR on all bands) VHF amateur and MURS and UHF Amateur and GMRS, the Comet would be a good choice.  That’s very helpful. Thanks!

[wayoverthere]

On 4/3/2023 at 2:29 PM, WRFP399 said:

Tram 1181?

Ahh...so I typed something up before, but deleted it because I was trying not to be TOO negative.  I'll say yes, what i saw the 1181 had decent SWR numbers everywhere I tested in ham and GMRS (swr meter, not vna); ran it on the truck for a bit, since it cleared most of the height restricted locations, and didn't hit too much when it did hit.

That said, a couple anecdotal experience notes; both were on 70cm, since my area doesn't have the community on GMRS, and the family has less than zero interest in anything radio.

• When had it on the beater, mag mount on the trunk; was talking into a local repeater on mid power (10 watts) and had to bump to high (20 watts) because I wasn't holding the repeater.  I can get into the same repeater from my backyard on a 5 watt handheld, and have gotten into it from a couple blocks closer from inside the car with a handheld, no problem; I have the 2x4sr in its place now, which is working well.
• It's been up on the bookcase in my 'shack' for GMRS, mag mounted on a piece of sheet metal. This is the same location i had the midland 3db whip on before, which was good for using a GMRS repeater 60ish miles away on mid power, though high was better. more recently, I've been testing out a ftm400xdr through the tram till i can get it in the truck, and poking at APRS...noticed I'd only receive 3 or 4 hits a day on APRS, leaving it on most of the day. now that I'm shuffling my office/shack, i cleared most of the radios off the desk as i rearrange; the Vertex twins and the Btech got boxed up, which freed up the comet GP1 (which is on a tripod in the closet) for the Yaesu. Had the radio on for a bit yesterday, and even with it overwriting duplicates (and that not-ideal mounting location), I had 50+ hits inside a couple hours with it hooked up to the Comet (where before I was thinking there was just no activity on APRS).

for what it's worth