Larsen antenna

[bubbamark]

I have been trying google searches and can't figure out if the Larsen 150/450/800 antenna will work for a dual band HT ham radio. I will be taking my test in a little over a week and I bought a HT radio to get started. I already have the Larsen on my truck now for my scanner and I also have a Radio Shack antenna I use to use but switched to the Larsen. I plan on getting a nice mobile after I get familiar with how everything works on the repeaters and will be switching the antenna I currently have back to the scanner and getting a nice dual band antenna for the mobile dual band radio. I will then drill holes and mount them to get away from the mag mounts.

So for the time being will the larsen work with a handheld radio?

Thanks and sorry if this has been asked before which I am sure it has several times but my searches didn't really bring up the answer.

 

[gewecke]

I have been trying google searches and can't figure out if the Larsen 150/450/800 antenna will work for a dual band HT ham radio. I will be taking my test in a little over a week and I bought a HT radio to get started. I already have the Larsen on my truck now for my scanner and I also have a Radio Shack antenna I use to use but switched to the Larsen. I plan on getting a nice mobile after I get familiar with how everything works on the repeaters and will be switching the antenna I currently have back to the scanner and getting a nice dual band antenna for the mobile dual band radio. I will then drill holes and mount them to get away from the mag mounts.

So for the time being will the larsen work with a handheld radio?

Thanks and sorry if this has been asked before which I am sure it has several times but my searches didn't really bring up the answer.

Yes, it will work on your ht if it has the correct connector and while the triband is not the best possible choice it should work fair. The Larsen NMO 2/70 would be a better choice for the bands you want to use.

73,
n9zas

 

[n5ims]

I agree with the NMO 2/70 choice. Be aware that there are 3 versions of this antenna. Two are nearly identical, one has an open coil (2/70 B) and the other a closed coil (2/70 C), but otherwise they're nearly the same. The third version is the "short" version (2/70 SH) that has lower gain, but not as tall. They all work quite well, but the "short" version doesn't have quite the range.

Short version - Ham Radio Outlet | LARSEN NMO-2/70 SH | SHORT 2M/440 MOBILE ANT
Open coil version - Ham Radio Outlet | LARSEN NMO-2/70 BLACK | BLACK NMO-2/70 ANTENNA 2M/440

The tri-band you asked about will work, but will have higher SWR since it's cut for the commercial bands, not the ham bands.

 

[kf5qgf]

I use the Larsen 2/70, good antenna though the swr's are a little high on 70 cm for my liking. I use the open coil version simply because I don't want to have to worry about water contamination nor worry about said water freezing and potentially breaking the closed coil. Food for thought.

KF5QGF

 

[bubbamark]

Ok thanks for the help everyone. I will look into the larsen antenna's as well.

 

[kf5qgf]

Hint, the names of larsen antennas are the bands/freqs it'll work on. As in the 2/70 works on 2 meters and 70 centimeters, and the 150/450/800 is 150 MHz, (2 meters) 450 MHz (70 cm) and 800 MHz (37 cm)

 

[N4DES]

Here is a sweep of the tri-band antenna:

One thing about it is that you must have a really good groundplane so it works correctly. No "L" brackets or magnet mounst allowed.

 

[K5MPH]

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The antenna you are talking about will work for ham radio but I would get the short Larson antenna with the coil I use This one and it works great it also has good gain for it's size ,good luck.......

 

[Rt169Radio]

So you can transmit with the Larsen tri-band antenna? It is not a receive only antenna?

 

[n1cyn]

Larson Antenna

The 150/450/800 antenna is NOT designed to transmit on the ham freqs. It is recieve only.

 

[K5MPH]

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You are right,it's not for tx only rx sorry about that,I was thinking about another antenna......

 

[N4DES]

Here is a sweep of the tri-band antenna:

One thing about it is that you must have a really good groundplane so it works correctly. No "L" brackets or magnet mounst allowed.

I have to correct my post as this is for the Laird Tri-Band WPD136M6C-001 antenna and not the Larsen. Sorry if I confused anyone.

 

[gewecke]

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You are right,it's not for tx only rx sorry about that,I was thinking about another antenna......

That's interesting since I know a local ham who does transmit on one of these, NMO permanently mounted to his trunk. I'll have to talk to him about the performance. :roll:


73,
n9zas

 

[n5ims]

According to the spec sheet for the antenna (http://productfinder.pulseeng.com/products/datasheets/NMO150450800.pdf), it's rated for a transmit power of 50 watts. The rated bandwidth for 2.01:1 VSWR (or better) is only between the indicated ranges (150-165/450-470/800-960 MHz), which pretty much is outside the ham bands.

 

[prcguy]

I have several Larsen tri-band antennas and do use the occasionally for transmit. The match on 2m is not great, about 2:1 but it works similar to a 1/4 wave whip.
prcguy

According to the spec sheet for the antenna (http://productfinder.pulseeng.com/products/datasheets/NMO150450800.pdf), it's rated for a transmit power of 50 watts. The rated bandwidth for 2.01:1 VSWR (or better) is only between the indicated ranges (150-165/450-470/800-960 MHz), which pretty much is outside the ham bands.

 

[W2NJS]

Why suffer the design compromises that are inherent in a tri-band antenna when your radio is a dualbander? Do some more searching and find a dualband antenna and you'll be guaranteed of better results.

 

[bubbamark]

I bought one last night. Thanks for the help.