APX Dual Band Antenna Options

car5le · #1 (**permalink**) 01-07-2013, 8:09 PM

I'm just curious if anyone has tried anything like this.

We have the Motorola APX7000 dual band portable VHF/UHF version. The stock antenna that comes with this radio is very rigid and downright painful when they poke, along with being cumbersome and long.

I have a Wouxun dual band portable and decided to try the Wouxun antenna on the APX. So far I'm impressed in both bands, but there is more testing on the way.

Has anyone else done this with success, or used a similar antenna that worked for them?

Jay911 · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-2013, 11:55 PM

I would be skeptical of the antenna from a $49 throwaway radio being of any longevity, but lots of people reportedly buy antennas from the Thales Liberty to put on all sorts of other handheld radios. The Liberty antenna is 136-174/380-520/763-869 MHz capable according to the label. Unfortunately it's not something a consumer can readily get without a Thales account as far as I know, and I've heard rumors it's actually out of stock right now because of how popular it is.

car5le · #3 (**permalink**) 01-09-2013, 7:26 PM

Yeah - I'm also skeptical of the longevity, but when I can pick up up 20 of the things (antennas) for under $65 delivered, I'm wondering if it isn't a viable option if the performance can be proven. I will check into the Thales and see what I can find out about it.

Thanks!

esfd283 · #4 (**permalink**) 01-10-2013, 9:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by car5le

I'm just curious if anyone has tried anything like this.

We have the Motorola APX7000 dual band portable VHF/UHF version. The stock antenna that comes with this radio is very rigid and downright painful when they poke, along with being cumbersome and long.

I have a Wouxun dual band portable and decided to try the Wouxun antenna on the APX. So far I'm impressed in both bands, but there is more testing on the way.

Has anyone else done this with success, or used a similar antenna that worked for them?

We have put the Wouxun antenna on a few of our APX. They work well. We are not using them in high impact areas so how rugged they are is not an issue for us. Obviously you lose the GPS functionality with the Wouxun(atleast the ones we are using) but the trade off is acceptable.

W2NJS · #5 (**permalink**) 01-10-2013, 10:15 AM

Okay, now don't y'all laugh, but at the moment I'm using the antenna from my Baofeng UV-5R on my APX7000. It's the shortest dualbander I can find that's not one of the ultrashort antennas and it seems to work fine, at least on UHF. It's not as flexible as the Wouxon antenna, which I also have, but it's cheap and relatively short.

Baofeng and Motorola. Who says you can't have it all?

WISCOMM · #6 (**permalink**) 01-10-2013, 9:35 PM

I have now heard everything. Personally I would not put a $3.25 antenna on a $5000 radio. My $0.02.

Craig

W2NJS · #7 (**permalink**) 01-11-2013, 10:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WISCOMM

I have now heard everything. Personally I would not put a $3.25 antenna on a $5000 radio. My $0.02.

Craig

What can I tell you? I'd be willing to bet that the radiation resistance of the Baofeng antenna is somewhere around 50 ohms. Beyond that point, why argue?

car5le · #8 (**permalink**) 01-20-2013, 1:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WISCOMM

I have now heard everything. Personally I would not put a $3.25 antenna on a $5000 radio. My $0.02.

Craig

Well - the biggest problem I have is that I have over 200 APX VHF/UHF radios in service. The chief complaint I get is the rigid antenna and jamming under the arm and into the breast. This complaint is especially prevalent (and rightfully so) from the women and those of shorter stature. I'm just looking at options since "M" hasn't provided any yet. Unfortunately the $3.25 antenna is the only option I have come up with to work with so far.

The funny thing is that this Nagoya antenna seems to be working as well as the "M" antenna. Next week we do some actual electronic testing to see how it works out.

kayn1n32008 · #9 (**permalink**) 01-20-2013, 2:15 PM

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Beware the UV5R antenna is more or less a dummy load on Vhf, Uhf it works pretty good.

I think it is pretty sad that people are looking at crap Chinese antennas of these radios because Motorola is blind to the fact that the long rigid antennas are crap.

cmdrwill · #10 (**permalink**) 01-20-2013, 4:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayn1n32008

Beware the UV5R antenna is more or less a dummy load on Vhf, Uhf it works pretty good.

I think it is pretty sad that people are looking at crap Chinese antennas of these radios because Motorola is blind to the fact that the long rigid antennas are crap.

Exactly, no one at Motorola has to get in and out of a patrol car many times each day with a radio plus everything else we have to carry.

Even the best antennas for portable hand held radios are a compromise. We have seen just about every thing in the last 40+ years.....

kayn1n32008 · #11 (**permalink**) 01-20-2013, 6:09 PM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by cmdrwill

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayn1n32008

Beware the UV5R antenna is more or less a dummy load on Vhf, Uhf it works pretty good.

I think it is pretty sad that people are looking at crap Chinese antennas of these radios because Motorola is blind to the fact that the long rigid antennas are crap.

Exactly, no one at Motorola has to get in and out of a patrol car many times each day with a radio plus everything else we have to carry.

Even the best antennas for portable hand held radios are a compromise. We have seen just about every thing in the last 40+ years.....

Absolutly. But on Vhf the UV5R antenna is a special kind of crap, a dummy load would probably work better. On Uhf it works pretty well.