Midland Ghost Antenna

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WRTC928 said:

I wish I could find a 70cm/2m antenna in the same form factor that would work as well as the Ghost. There are some available, but I'm skeptical of a "no-name" antenna selling for $16. I mean...there could be one out there, but I'm not going to buy one without seeing some reviews. 

Also this Compactenna from DX Engineering: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/can-2m-440?seid=dxese1&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHC1IcGA0rH-N1a1wQXIhDuTekfGba_nQh9ZEpj9l1uJz_W3QNi1ECGhoC2kUQAvD_BwE

[WRTC928]

6 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

I don’t have firsthand experience with this but L-Com isn’t a fly-by-night company: https://www.l-com.com/144-430-mhz-omni-antenna-4.5-dbi-gain-nmo-connector-black-abs-radome-lcanom1081?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Shopping - PMax - All Products&keyword=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9ns-k-oAGD00ZYuX-bs141csFCp&gclid=CjwKCAiAh6y9BhBREiwApBLHCxp5d-GsMPw5o8VbQPxZGLsAhj2PdPREyFZJINegJsie_crDDwZ-0hoCJg4QAvD_BwE

I like this one, but it only tolerates 30 watts max. My mobile can do 50, and there might be a time when I wanted to use it. I'm probably going to go with the Compactenna eventually, but right now, my Comet is working just fine, so I'm not strongly motivated to replace it.

[nokones]

A multi-band antenna will never be an optimum antenna for a specific band. The respective operating bands will be compromised in order to be marginal for the two bands

[AdmiralCochrane]

With antennas, never say never.

[WRTC928]

21 hours ago, nokones said:

A multi-band antenna will never be an optimum antenna for a specific band. The respective operating bands will be compromised in order to be marginal for the two bands

My favorite T-shirt says "TANSTAAFL" which is a fake Russian word popularized by author Robert Heinlein in the novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It's actually an acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch". You never get something for nothing and in order to gain in one area, you have to lose in another. The AR-5RM has three Tx bands: 70cm, 1.25m, and 2m. I only recently programmed some simplex frequencies on the 1.25m band which necessitated buying a tri-band antenna. I went with the Comet HT-224 which doesn't suck, but it gives up a noticeable amount in clarity to the NA-771 I had on it before. In turn, the NA-771 does not perform as well on GMRS frequencies as the NA-771G which is GMRS-specific. From my living room, I can work a 2-meter repeater about 20 miles away with a HT. This morning, I used the tri-band antenna for the first time, and although I still came through okay, I was told my signal was weaker than previously. With the 771 antenna I can blast into that repeater "like gangbusters" according to the net controller. I'm going to stick with the tri-band because it's good enough, but I did lose something in the transition,

[AmanGMRS]

Another thumbs up for the Midland Ghost antenna.

Without a doubt the Midland whip will get you more distance, but the Ghost will reach pretty much all of my local repeaters (some not so local also), so I have the Ghost on the majority of the time for my day to day driving around.  If I'm going to be taking a longer drive or trip, I'll switch to the whip.