KG-935G Plus Rubber Duck vs Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 465 MHZ

[Webslinger]

Interested in the Smiley 5/8 Slim Duck 465 MHZ for my KG-935G Plus for a couple of reasons. 1) more compact than the rubber duck, 2) may get better performance (not so sure).

With that said, the 5/8 Slim Duck is actually shorter than the rubber duck on my HT. For some reason, length of antenna is stuck in my kanoodle as better, and I know that may not necessarily be the case, but not sure why. So, if the rubber duck antenna on my HT is longer than the 5/8 Smiley, why would/should the Smiley be a better antenna?

[WRWE456]

It's hard to improve on the factory 935G antenna for everyday use. A 15" whip can give a bit more range when going for very long range with line of sight. But give the Smiley a try and let us know how it works.

[WRYZ926]

I'm interested to see if the Smiley antenna does any better than the stock 935G antenna.

I have an Abbree 771G antenna and it doesn't do any better than the stock 935G antenna. The same Abbree antennas are definitely better than the stock Baofeng UV-5R GMRS antennas and does make a difference.

[WRHS218]

I have had the KG-935G and now have the Plus. On both, I compared the factory antennas to a Nagoya 771G by talking to the same person in the same place 3.7 miles from my house. Both times the 935G (and Plus) oem antennas were a little better than the 771G. I did the same comparison with a 905G and the 771G and the 701G were slightly better. I have not tried the Smiley but have stopped looking for antennas as the oem 935g antenna does what I need it to do. I do understand about wanting a shorter antenna, but oh well. If you try the Smiley let us know what you think. 

[WRQJ559]

Also curious of your testing results with this antenna. I like the idea of an even more compact antenna for use with my chest harness when skiing so I can keep the 935G plus under my jacket protected from the elements. So long as similar performance to the stock antenna is maintained.

[WRYJ977]

I don't have the 935G but I do have a KG-UV9GX and various other GMRS handhelds and I have the Smiley Slim Duck and the retractable one and although the build quality is great my Nagaoya 771Gs outperform them.

[WSAA635]

I didn't have any LUCK with the 5/8 Rubber DUCK. I was actually getting better Tx with a stock Wouxun antenna that I got from BuyTwoWayRadio for $8 bucks. I ended up sending it back. Nagoya works well IF it'll fit down into the recess where the antenna goes. I had one radio(think it was a Wouxun) where the Nagoya didn't seat all the way and Rx and Tx were not that great. My current Talkpod A36 Plus suffers from the same issue, the channel for the antenna to screw down into is too narrow so the stock antenna for it works better than the Nagoya does. I really wish they'd standardize this stuff so that all the OD's of the antennas and ID's of the radios would match up.

[WRVR303]

On my KG-935+ I could hear faint, weak signals a little better with the Nagoya 771 compared to the stock antenna. I also played around with both of them with a NanoVNA (knowing that trying measure SWR and such on a tiny HT antenna was basically a waste of time). When sweeping from 450-470 MHz the 771 actually showed a clearly defined "dip" with a significantly lower SWR of 1.5 to 2.0 around the 462-467 MHz range, while the stock antenna showed a fairly flat line across the 450-470 portion, staying in the 2.5 to 3:1 SWR range.

Edit: I in spite of the above, I use the stock antenna because the length of the 771 was a PITA, bordering on PMEO (Poke My Eye Out)

Edited March 15 by WRVR303
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[WSAA635]

I wonder how a 701G would do in place of the stock antenna?