Selection help needed - Nagoya UT-308UV vs. UT-72

[308guru]

Hello!

I’m looking for a magnetic antenna I can place on the roof of my SUV and connect to my UV-5R radio. I was looking at these two Nagoya antennas and they seemed all too similar and nothing seemed to allow me to easily pick one over the other. The only tech spec. that was noticeable different was the 1” difference in length which is meaningless to me. I’m very new to amateur radio so I thought I was overlooking something.

I emailed the company asking about the difference and the reply was: “The UT-72 is tuned more for the amateur bands, the 308UV is a wider broadband antenna.” That didn’t mean much to me and looking at the tech specs. it looks like both antennas easily cover the 2M and 14CM bands easily with their advertised general or optimal range.

I’m still left wondering which to choose, or why they would offer two products seemingly so similar.

Nagoya UT-72 - BaoFeng Radios

Authentic Genuine Nagoya UT-72 Super Loading Coil 19-Inch Magnetic Mount (Heavy Duty) VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna PL-259, Includes Additional SMA Adaptor for BTECH and BaoFeng Handheld Radios

baofengtech.com

Nagoya UT-308UV - BaoFeng Radios

Authentic Genuine Nagoya UT-308UV 21-Inch Magnetic Mount VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna SMA-Female for BTECH and BaoFeng Radios

baofengtech.com

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated. Thanks!

 

[adhoc]

Larsen 2/70

Stay away from 1/4 Amazon antennas.

 

[prcguy]

Both antennas appear to be 1/4 wave on VHF and operate as 3/4 wave on UHF. That will give a decent match on both bands but UHF performance will suffer due to the unfavorable radiation pattern at the horizon on UHF.