Good compact antenna

Posted by Mike Carter on 8th Sep 2021

I have this mounted on the fender of my F-150 using a Procomm PC22-4006NKT NMO Antenna hood mount. This is not the best mounting location but I need to keep it low so I can park in my garage.

SWR on 2M is about 2:1 on the low/high edges and about 1.7:1 at 146.0 Mhz. So not quite as good as advertised, but I suspect it is the mounting location so I am not taking a star away for that. I have not tried adjusting the antenna, nor do I intend to.

On 70cm, SWR is 1.5:1 on the low edge, and decreases from there to 1.2:1 on the high edge. So UHF is as advertised.

On 10w I was able to get into a 147 MHz repeater 60+ miles away (line of sight) and got an excellent signal report for voice quality, with just a little bacon-sizzle in the background. So, I'd say this antenna works great given the mounting location.

The only thing I would ding this for is that it is extremely stiff. No way I'd mount it on the roof of my truck. Also, it vibrates like crazy while driving which is a bit distracting to see in my field of vision since it is in the fender mount position.

Overall, I am very happy with this antenna. I especially like the size and unobtrusive look of it on my daily driver in the fender mount antenna. It performs well, and almost looks like it came with the truck, which is what I wanted.