Has anyone here tried a stubby antenna?

[WRTC928]

I see that Abbree and Baofeng have very short antennas for HTs. The Baofeng claims 3 dB gain, but I'm pretty skeptical of that. The Abbree claim of 2 dB gain is a little more believable. The idea of such a short, rigid antenna is appealing, but I wonder how much performance would suffer? Have any of you tried one of these or a similar product from another brand?

[LeoG]

Yup.

Short range communication worked good, maybe 1000'.  After that it starts to get scratchy.  Doesn't deal with hills well at all compared to a larger antenna.  I was still able to contact a repeater 21 miles away with the stubby on a 4.5watt HT.  Certainly wasn't as good a connection as my Nagoya 771G, but they gave me an R5-7.  Walking with it really downgraded the reception on their end.

[LeoG]

 

[Hoppyjr]

While not a “stubby” I’m using the Smiley Slim Duck on a couple radios and it’s working great.

[LeoG]

Yup.  Got that one too.  For the most part I use the Nagoya 771G.  I think the Smiley works about as good as the OEM TD H3 antenna but is half the height.

[WRKC935]

I have used other 'stubby' antenna's.  Mostly for Motorola radios, but the antenna really don't care what radio it's attached to.

Stubby's are fine if they will put out enough signal and receive enough signal to function in the application you are trying to use them for.

If you are using a repeater that you are already noisy into with a standard antenna, you aren't gonna have much luck with a stubby.

If you have a good signal, the repeater is close, or the other radio you are talking to simplex is close, then again, not an issue.

You're not going to bounce signals off the moon with a stubby antenna.  But you aren't gonna carry around a 20 foot dish to talk simplex with that would bounce signals off the moon when powered with an HT either.

 

[WRUE951]

they work well when driving in nearby groups but peter out on long range and or if your are within a lot of trees.  I was given a MXT25 and for the most part i like it, it works well.  

[WRXL702]

A Short / Stubby (Helical) Antenna In UHF & VHF, Has Been Used For Many Years In Public Safety Applications.

I Personally Use An OEM KRA23M Kenwood Helical On My NX 1300 AU With Actually Equal To Or Better Performance Than The Standard Whip.

You Will Usually Find The Same Results With A Good Quality Stubby Antenna.  

[tcp2525]

Best to just try a few different brands, they are all about the same performance +/- a few unscientific perceived gain in performance and try them yourself as they are cheap enough. The one I'm using might be working great for me, but fail miserably in your circumstances. Just remember, all recommendations are subjective. 

[tweiss3]

If the antenna isn't a helical antenna (many VHF antennas are), then it's easy to tell the performance from length. A 1/4 wave antenna is 6", and requires a ground plane/counterpoise which is the radio/you holding the radio. Any longer and it could be a 5/8 or 1/2 wave antenna, and you do get increased performance from those. A 1/4 wave antenna is unity gain, 0 db, or 2.1dbi all of which mean the same thing but many manufacturers don't properly publish which unit they mean, either in ignorance or purposefully to get better sales. The half wave (12") antennas work better because they don't need a ground plane/counter poise to work, so the undersized counterpoise of the radio doesn't reduce the antenna's effectiveness. 

I stopped going with the "stubby" antennas long ago, and just deal with however the antenna needs to be. My Harris uses the 9" long multiband whip, and it honestly isn't really an inconvenience. 

 

 

[tweiss3]

I will add that I have a DMR only radio (SL7550) that has a super stubby antenna, and it works good around the house with a hotspot and the 1 repeater that has great coverage. I never tried to test it's overall distance between two radios, but I've heard it's not great.

 

The antenna

[WRHS218]

13 hours ago, WRTC928 said:

Have any of you tried one of these or a similar product from another brand?

I use one very similar to the Boafeng antenna you linked. I use it on one of my GMRS radios for on-site communications at our church where various FRS radios are used. Distance isn't an issue as we are never more than 300 yards apart. It works well in the buildings as well as outside. I haven't tried it outside of that application.

[WRTC928]

So...about what I figured; you'll lose some distance. Back in my (23 channel) CB days, I noticed that electrical length was never quite as good as physical length on an antenna, but on a CB it didn't matter much because your distance was either annoyingly short or ridiculously long (due to skip). 

13 hours ago, Hoppyjr said:

While not a “stubby” I’m using the Smiley Slim Duck on a couple radios and it’s working great.

I think the Slim Duck is pretty comparable in length to the Nagoya 701G. I have a couple of those and I'm pretty happy with them. Mostly if I can hit a repeater with a 771G, I can hit it with a 701G but signal quality suffers a bit at longer distances.

 

My reason for asking the question is that I'd like to have something I could put on a Baofeng f8hp and stick it in jacket pocket without worrying about damaging the antenna. I expected a bit of loss of distance, but if everyone was saying they could get about 10 feet and the signal sounded like wadding up aluminum foil, then it's not even good for that. Sounds like it may be okay for what I want.

[SteveShannon]

On 12/3/2024 at 8:25 AM, WRTC928 said:

So...about what I figured; you'll lose some distance. Back in my (23 channel) CB days, I noticed that electrical length was never quite as good as physical length on an antenna, but on a CB it didn't matter much because your distance was either annoyingly short or ridiculously long (due to skip). 

I think the Slim Duck is pretty comparable in length to the Nagoya 701G. I have a couple of those and I'm pretty happy with them. Mostly if I can hit a repeater with a 771G, I can hit it with a 701G but signal quality suffers a bit at longer distances.

 

My reason for asking the question is that I'd like to have something I could put on a Baofeng f8hp and stick it in jacket pocket without worrying about damaging the antenna. I expected a bit of loss of distance, but if everyone was saying they could get about 10 feet and the signal sounded like wadding up aluminum foil, then it's not even good for that. Sounds like it may be okay for what I want.

I use a Yaesu FT-4x with a tiny little Comet antenna sometimes when range isn’t an issue. It works well. Here’s a picture: 

[WRTC928]

13 hours ago, LeoG said:

Yup.  Got that one too.  For the most part I use the Nagoya 771G.  I think the Smiley works about as good as the OEM TD H3 antenna but is half the height.

I get great results with the 771G, but it's not a "pocket friendly" antenna. 

[LeoG]

I stick mine in the rear pocket and it's not that big of a deal.

[WRTC928]

2 hours ago, LeoG said:

I stick mine in the rear pocket and it's not that big of a deal.

All the slack in the back of my jeans is used by my big backside.  I usually put it in my left jacket pocket but a couple of days ago, I snagged an antenna getting out of my truck and bent it beyond repair. That's the first time I've done in that in at least 2 years, so maybe I'll decide it's not a big deal, but there's no harm in exploring options. I sometimes use the belt clip, but by the time I've put a firearm and one or two magazines on the belt, adding a radio makes me feel like my pants are going to fall down. 

[LeoG]

I remember going to the doctors and they asked me to step on the scale with all my clothes and steel toe boots on.  I said that's going to sway my weight quite a bit.  She said she'd take off 2 lbs.  I laughed.

After I took off my clothes I stepped on the scale again, yes I had socks on . I was 9 lbs lighter.  With the steel toe work boots, heavy weight cloth in my pants, all the change and other stuff I keep in my pockets, plus suspenders, knife etc.  I told her 2lbs is less than one of my boots.

[GreggInFL]

Ordered a pack of the Baofengs mentioned in the OP.  Tried one this morning on an HT and hit a repeater ~5 miles away through the woods.  I'm sure the signal is poor compared with longer antennae, but still surprised it connected.  Could be a nice option for campsites or road trips.  At $9.66 for a four pack, may as well throw some in the bag. 

[WRTC928]

On 12/6/2024 at 8:52 AM, GreggInFL said:

Ordered a pack of the Baofengs mentioned in the OP.  Tried one this morning on an HT and hit a repeater ~5 miles away through the woods.  I'm sure the signal is poor compared with longer antennae, but still surprised it connected.  Could be a nice option for campsites or road trips.  At $9.66 for a four pack, may as well throw some in the bag. 

Thanks! This is exactly the information I was looking for. I think I'll buy a few.