Diamond RH 519, any feedback?

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Just got this antenna today for my HT. Any thoughts about this antenna? So far I am hitting the repeaters fine, however reception could be a little bit better when if comes to scanning.
 

ST-Bob

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All "rubber duckies" are a compromise. It's probably a loaded 1/4 wave at 2m and maybe 2 colinear 1/4 waves with a choke in the middle for 70cm. It'll outperform a shorter antenna but it's nothing like as good as any outdoor antenna with some gain. Even a 1/4 wave ground plane on a cookie sheet will probably work better.
 
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Figures. The stock ducky picks up the weather channel better than the Diamond RH519. Also bought an Diamond MR77 for the car. I am very pleased with that antenna.
 

sparks40

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Figures. The stock ducky picks up the weather channel better than the Diamond RH519. Also bought an Diamond MR77 for the car. I am very pleased with that antenna.


Be careful with the MR77. The coax connection to the base is somewhat fragile. I had one, and one day i went to transmit and the SWR was way up there. On further inspection, the coax connection had loosened up on the mag base.

The connector just pushes down onto the mag base, and is held in place by a cheap adhesive as far as i could tell. I wouldn't buy another one.

The 519 is a good antenna, but be careful not to bend it too far at the base. I have one, and it takes a beating sometimes, but all in all, it's a good antenna.

You might also try an MFJ 1716. It seems to have higher gain, an also outperforms both the stock duck and the 519 on transmit and receive on my FT-60.
 

LtDoc

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The primary reason for any 'rubber duck' antenna is convenience, it's shorter than the typical antenna for that particular band. That means that the performance of that shortened antenna will also be 'shortened'. How 'much' just depends on how 'short' the thing is. (I don't think there's any direct relation between the percentage of 'length' and 'performance', at least not that I'm aware of.) The typical 'duck' antenna on a hand held radio may be just fine one one band and terrible on another, deals with that relative length per frequency thingy.
And then there's the fact that there's always two 'halves' to any antenna system. The typical hand held radio uses the radio's chassis and the user's body as it's 'other half', or "ground", or counterpoise. There are so many possible variations in that, it's sometimes a wonder that any 'duck' antenna works at all. One alternative is to supply the hand held with another 'other half' of an antenna to use instead of the chassis/hand/arm/whatever. How do you do that? How about hanging a 'tail' of the proper length from the attachment point of the 'duck' antenna (connected to the radio's ground, naturally). You end up with a sort of vertical dipole. It really can help. It doesn't turn the thing into some 'miraculous' antenna, but it can make 'some' difference.
Nothing will replace a "real live", 'full sized' antenna if it's shorter than that "real live" antenna. But you can sort of 'help' it along a little. All of this is a generalization, take it as such.
- 'Doc
 
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sparks40 said:
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Figures. The stock ducky picks up the weather channel better than the Diamond RH519. Also bought an Diamond MR77 for the car. I am very pleased with that antenna.


Be careful with the MR77. The coax connection to the base is somewhat fragile. I had one, and one day i went to transmit and the SWR was way up there. On further inspection, the coax connection had loosened up on the mag base.

The connector just pushes down onto the mag base, and is held in place by a cheap adhesive as far as i could tell. I wouldn't buy another one.

The 519 is a good antenna, but be careful not to bend it too far at the base. I have one, and it takes a beating sometimes, but all in all, it's a good antenna.

You might also try an MFJ 1716. It seems to have higher gain, an also outperforms both the stock duck and the 519 on transmit and receive on my FT-60.

Thanks for the replies.

Sparks, should I put shrink tubing on the base of the antenna? Or would it not protect against strain.
 

W8RMH

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I have used this antenna on my Yaesu FT-60R. It works better on 70cm but worse on 2m, compared to the stock RD. I would say it performs OK for a scanner antenna however it would not be my first choice. (Wears nice on the belt too, doesn't stick you in the side like the RD).
 

SCPD

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I use this antenna on my GRE PSR500 scanner ... and it works reasonably well. I like that it is flexible ... and overall isn't all that bad. I should be doing a test on this antenna in the coming weeks, so check the forums.
 

sparks40

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Sparks, should I put shrink tubing on the base of the antenna? Or would it not protect against strain.

Shrink tubing will firm it up a little bit, but what i was getting at was that if the 519 gets kinked at the base, it will be like that permanently. You can sraighten it out somewhat, but it never quite goes back the way it was. I did that to mine, but i hasn't affected perfomance at all.

I'll also reiterate on the MR77...they are JUNK the way they're put together. Apparently mine had loosened up over time from taking it on and off the roof. A good inexpensive 2M/70cm mobile is a Workman Electronics DB-1. It's a 3/8-24 1/4 wave. You can buy it with or without a mag mount from several places, and it's a good solid antenna. I use it on the wife's car. I have the same antenna on a homemade stake pocket mount i made for my truck.

The other mag mount i use is a Workman ANT-58 for 2M. It's a 5/8 wave, and also a 3/8-24 mount. I have it on a Hustler 5" heavy duty mag mount. I've been very impressed by the performance vs. the price of these two antennas.
 

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