Which NMO Mount Tri-Band Antenna is better in honest, clear Receiving Performance?

[CorwinScansNM]

Hi my good old Radio Reference Community,

I am currently getting ready to change out to a new NMO Mount Antenna for monitoring VHF 150-174Mhz, UHF 450-470Mhz as well as 769-775Mhz for my Statewide P25 Trunked System. I will be installing it on my external 27-ft. Antenna Mast using the CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane (N). I have my choices narrowed down to 2 quite costly & expensive Antennas right now. However, I am unsure which out of the 2 is or has been the best for others out there who have purchased, experimented with & tested them out for their receiving needs? I figured that I would post here on Radio Reference to get an Idea from others here which of the 2 is the best or the better out of the 2 that I have found & am trying to decide on.

Hopefully, you all can help me lean towards & purchase the right one for the utmost & best receiving of RF Frequencies on my Uniden Scanners/Receivers? Note: I do not need to Transmit. Receive only!

1: COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO
$149.00

2: RFMAX WPD136M6C-001 Multi-Band Mobile Antenna
$168.95

 

[trentbob]

Hi my good old Radio Reference Community,

I am currently getting ready to change out to a new NMO Mount Antenna for monitoring VHF 150-174Mhz, UHF 450-470Mhz as well as 769-775Mhz for my Statewide P25 Trunked System. I will be installing it on my external 27-ft. Antenna Mast using the CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane (N). I have my choices narrowed down to 2 quite costly & expensive Antennas right now. However, I am unsure which out of the 2 is or has been the best for others out there who have purchased, experimented with & tested them out for their receiving needs? I figured that I would post here on Radio Reference to get an Idea from others here which of the 2 is the best or the better out of the 2 that I have found & am trying to decide on.

Hopefully, you all can help me lean towards & purchase the right one for the utmost & best receiving of RF Frequencies on my Uniden Scanners/Receivers? Note: I do not need to Transmit. Receive only!

1: COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO
$149.00

2: RFMAX WPD136M6C-001 Multi-Band Mobile Antenna
$168.95

There are so many many threads on radio reference regarding your question. Google it. It will put you in touch with many of those threads and you will see my username along with a lot of other people here on radio reference.

This is my favorite and was once paired up with the apx 8000 but there are others made by a couple of other brands that once you look it up you'll see, for your money and performance I like this one but, more qualified people than me will have their reasons why they like their choice as they buy them in bulk for their Fleet.

Good luck to you, Bob.

 

[prcguy]

The two antennas you are considering are included in this antenna range test and from my memory the COMPACtenna Scan III works better on more bands than the Laird WPD136M6C-001. Another thing is the COMPACtenna works better with less ground plane on VHF than other antennas and the COMPACtenna ground plane kit you have has the radials bent down at an extreme angle to accommodate the COMPACtenna series and that may not play well with other brand antennas which are designed to sit on a flat metal surface.

Antenna range testing between multiband mobile antennas

I was going to add more to this package of information like a diagram of the setup, but I may never get to that so here its is as-is. I've been wanting to do an antenna range comparison of multi-band mobile antennas for some time and the recent purchase of a COMPACtenna LMR-1 compelled me to put...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[mmckenna]

I've been playing with the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 and the EM Wave EM-M43002
I've used them both on a Harris XL-200M, a Kenwood VHF and a Kenwood 800MHz mobile.

I can't tell the difference between them. The EM Wave has a slightly nicer sealing method on the base.

I think I sent one of those to prcguy for part of his test, can't remember which one.

Both of those have been swapping places on various trucks/radios for at least a year now.
Both are way less expensive than the RFMax antenna you are looking at.

 

[abqscan]

I'm interested in learning what antenna you are using now and what you feel changing out your antenna will acomplish. Also, what type of coax are you using currently and will this change with a new antenna?

 

[trentbob]

I've been playing with the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 and the EM Wave EM-M43002
I've used them both on a Harris XL-200M, a Kenwood VHF and a Kenwood 800MHz mobile.

I can't tell the difference between them. The EM Wave has a slightly nicer sealing method on the base.

I think I sent one of those to prcguy for part of his test, can't remember which one.

Both of those have been swapping places on various trucks/radios for at least a year now.
Both are way less expensive than the RFMax antenna you are looking at.

As Yogi Berra said, this is like deja vu, all over again😉.

 

[prcguy]

I've been playing with the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 and the EM Wave EM-M43002
I've used them both on a Harris XL-200M, a Kenwood VHF and a Kenwood 800MHz mobile.

I can't tell the difference between them. The EM Wave has a slightly nicer sealing method on the base.

I think I sent one of those to prcguy for part of his test, can't remember which one.

Both of those have been swapping places on various trucks/radios for at least a year now.
Both are way less expensive than the RFMax antenna you are looking at.

You sent me the EM Wave Tri-Band and thanks again for that.

 

[mmckenna]

You sent me the EM Wave Tri-Band and thanks again for that.

No problem, glad I could be a small part of that. It's a good piece of reference.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

For those of you here who are recommending the the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 Tri-Band Antenna, I am going to have to pass on that one because I in fact just ordered & received one of these from ArcAntenna.com a little over a Week ago for $61. I just got around to installing it 2 Days ago on my external COMPACtenna Ground Plane. I came inside to power up my Uniden Public Safety Scanners/Receivers after installing the the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 to see how my RF Signal Performance was after installation. The results were terrible as for I was unable to receive any VHF or UHF Frequencies & only somewhat my local P25 700Mhz Trunked Radio System. I could not even receive any of my local WX Weather Band Frequencies that are always on & always running which I always use those as a simple Receiving Test after installing or changing out RF Equipment. Turns out that my brand new the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 is & was defective from start after chatting with the Company that I purchased it from. So no, I will not be purchasing another Larsen NMO-150/450/758 or any other similar Larsen Antennas because of this bad experience in which I am going to get a full Refund for from ArcAntenna once they receive the defective the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 back.

Therefore, I have decided that I am going to pay more & purchase either the COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO or the RFMAX WPD136M6C-001 Multi-Band Mobile Antenna for my Scanner Receiving needs. My previous Antennas before the defective Larsen NMO-150/450/758 were the Diamond Discone D3000N, the Moonraker SSS-MKII SUPER SCAN STICK 25 TO 2000 MHZ SCANNER ANTENNA and lastly, the STI-CO RFMT-TB-V/U/C-A which is really, pretty good & has been the best out of the 3 in receiving strength except, it does not seem to be the best receiving in the VHF or UHF Frequencies as for I am hearing lots of just one way Radio Communications on some of my programmed VHF & UHF Frequencies & not the other side of the responding Radio Communications leaving me wondering at times what all is really going on on those Public Safety RF Frequencies with only hearing one way Radio Conversations between them & not both? The Diamond Discone & the Moonraker SSS-MKII did not satisfy me or work much at all for my Tri-Band Receiving needs or RF Signal Strength...

Anyway, I am going to stick to only NMO Type Antennas for my receiving needs from now on for more choices & better Antennas. Now I just have to decide on the 2 newest Antennas which one I want to risk buying & trying? Thank-you Radio Reference Community for all of your responses & suggestions.

 

[mmckenna]

Sorry to hear you had a negative experience with them.
I've been running Larsen antennas for 30 years without issue. I hope their QC isn't slipping.

Been having good experiences with EM Wave, an alternative if things don't work out for you.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

Also, what type of coax are you using currently and will this change with a new antenna?

Right now, (Southwire) RG8X 25-ft N Male to BNC Male. Soon to possibly be 25-ft. Times Microwave LMR400 N Male to BNC Male.

 

[trentbob]

Just wanted to make a correction on a post I made, I just saw it now, the Larson triband was paired up with the apx 8500 at one time, I misspoke and didn't see it till now that it wasn't the apx 8000 portable.

 

[prcguy]

The Laird WPD136M6C-001 has a very wide base that will overhang your base station mount and will never look right. They were intended to mount on flat sheet metal and there is none on your mount.

 

[fog]

Hopefully, you all can help me lean towards & purchase the right one for the utmost & best receiving of RF Frequencies on my Uniden Scanners/Receivers? Note: I do not need to Transmit. Receive only!

1: COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO
$149.00

2: RFMAX WPD136M6C-001 Multi-Band Mobile Antenna
$168.95

Larsen TRI-Band VNA Sweep (Part Deux) + Laird Scanner and COMPACtenna SCAN III is a previous thread looking at some of these, though it doesn't cover the RFMAX one. Were there specific things that led you to focus on just those two antennas? There are some others that come up a lot. (The Browning ones seem to get surprisingly good results.)

Right now, (Southwire) RG8X 25-ft N Male to BNC Male. Soon to possibly be 25-ft. Times Microwave LMR400 N Male to BNC Male.

This should make a nice difference. The difference is less on shorter runs, but at 900 MHz, RG-8X is spec'ed at 12.8 dB loss (!) per 100', compared to 3.9 dB per 100' for LMR400.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

The Laird WPD136M6C-001 has a very wide base that will overhang your base station mount and will never look right. They were intended to mount on flat sheet metal and there is none on your mount.

Great advice & awesome catch on that for me. It looks like you just saved me a ton of time, effort & a big Headache prcguy. That simply eliminates the Laird WPD136M6C-001 from my 2 choices of Receive Antennas that I had my mind narrowed down to as for, it has too big for NMO Base on it to fit on my CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane as I just leaned from prcguy. The CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane does in fact have a fairly small top base where the NMO Mount Antennas screw on to it.

Looks like I am going to be going with the COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO in hopes full & strong receiving RF Radio Transmissions on my many Programmed VHF & UHF Frequencies as well as my States P25, 700Mhz Trunked Radio System.

 

[prcguy]

Great advice & awesome catch on that for me. It looks like you just saved me a ton of time, effort & a big Headache prcguy. That simply eliminates the Laird WPD136M6C-001 from my 2 choices of Receive Antennas that I had my mind narrowed down to as for, it has too big for NMO Base on it to fit on my CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane as I just leaned from prcguy. The CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane does in fact have a fairly small top base where the NMO Mount Antennas screw on to it.

Looks like I am going to be going with the COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO in hopes full & strong receiving RF Radio Transmissions on my many Programmed VHF & UHF Frequencies as well as my States P25, 700Mhz Trunked Radio System.

I run an antenna orphanage and own most of the antennas tested in the multiband antenna shootout plus more. I don’t want to sound like a salesman for COMPACtenna but I have been impressed with the Scan III and LMR-1 and seem to reach for them more often than not over my Larsen, Laird, PCTEL and others.

Most multiband NMO antennas have something that sticks out above the others like one band that is a little better or they fit nicer in a certain mounting location but the COMPACtenna Scan III and LMR-1 seem to work better on more bands and with less ground plane despite being very short compared to the others. That’s not to say they are the best for every situation but in your case for a base antenna where there will be no branches hitting its rigid radome like on the top of a van, it should work very well on all of its advertised bands. Just be aware that all of theses multiband antennas including the Scan III are roughly equivalent at best to a tuned 1/4 wave whip on each band, they have no gain to speak of and some are worse.

I buy many of my antennas off eBay at a big discount with some Larsen, Laird and PCTEL multibands costing me less than $40 new but the COMPACtenna line rarely shows up discounted on eBay and they are not cheap new.

When you install this new setup I recommend coating the NMO threads on both the mount and antenna with silicone grease or even some Burndy Penetrox as the mount threads are usually brass and the COMPACtennas have aluminum threads.

 

[CorwinScansNM]

When you install this new setup I recommend coating the NMO threads on both the mount and antenna with silicone grease or even some Burndy Penetrox as the mount threads are usually brass and the COMPACtennas have aluminum threads.

Will NO-OX-ID A-Special Electrical Contact Grease work or Gardner Bender Ox-Guard?

 

[ems55]

I've been playing with the Larsen NMO-150/450/758 and the EM Wave EM-M43002
I've used them both on a Harris XL-200M, a Kenwood VHF and a Kenwood 800MHz mobile.

I can't tell the difference between them. The EM Wave has a slightly nicer sealing method on the base.

I think I sent one of those to prcguy for part of his test, can't remember which one.

Both of those have been swapping places on various trucks/radios for at least a year now.
Both are way less expensive than the RFMax antenna you are looking at.

On mmckenns's recommendation, I'm using the Larson on my truck. Couldn't be happier !!! NMO, triband, right size. Works fantastic !!!!

 

[K4EET]

<snip>

Looks like I am going to be going with the COMPACtenna Model SCAN-III NMO in hopes full & strong receiving RF Radio Transmissions on my many Programmed VHF & UHF Frequencies as well as my States P25, 700Mhz Trunked Radio System.

IMHO that is a great choice. I have used COMPACtennas for almost 3 years now and they outperform all of my other antennas in an apples to apples comparision based on similar specs. It would be nice if you would finish up this thread with what you think of the COMPACtenna and how it performs. Cheers! Dave K4EET