Thales blade antenna

[clowe]

Anyone use one of these on a ht? It would be for 2 meter.

 

[Toad_77]

Anyone use one of these on a ht? It would be for 2 meter.

If you're talking about the 1 meter blades, yes I have used them on MBITRs/JEMs & PRC-152s. They are designed to be used in the 30-90Mhz range. That said they are usually acceptable up to about 110-115Mhz so no on the 2M band. Also a couple of other things to keep in mind: First given the electrical wavelength of the lower frequencies, shortened antennas are a compromise in the first place (30Mhz = 10M, ~50Mhz = 6M) so performance will be mixed at best. Second, most HTs today have SMA antenna connectors so you would need an adapter CABLE from SMA to TNC, you DO NOT want to use a one piece adapter that will let you put the blade directly on the HT, you WILL snap your SMA off, for that matter I have seen several TNC connectors snapped off of PRC-117Gs.

 

[clowe]

Yeah I have a jumper cable for it ordered. I hooked it up for a minute the other day with 4 or 5 connectors and hit a repeater about 25 miles from my house. The antenna measures out to the same length as a 5/8 wave on 2 meter but wasn't sure how good it would work. I imagine I lost a couple of db with my contraction I had.

 

[prcguy]

I have several and have used them on various handhelds. Toad 77 summed it up, its not intended for use above about 110MHz. You would be much better off with the Racal/Thales 13" long 90-512MHz and even that one is down in performance a bit from an equivalent length tuned whip for 2m. This one does make a good portable VHF/UHF scanner antenna, see: Product Details | Thales Communications, Inc.

For VHF only Thales sells a 136-174MHz whip that would work better, see: Product Details | Thales Communications, Inc.
prcguy