Do MotoTRBO stubby antennas always thread to the same stopping point (flat side forward)?

[W6VVM]

I know this is very random and likely trivial.

In any marketing photos from Motorola, portables such as the XPR7000 and XPR3000, when shown with a stubby antenna, such as the PMAE4069, always have the flat side with the "UHF" print facing perfectly forward.

I've picked up a few of these radios over the years, never brand new. When threading an antenna onto them, they don't really tighten down over the course of a full rotation. That is to say, they kind of land where they land, threading loosely until hitting a stopping point. None of them land with the UHF logo facing forward like in the photos. And I don't care, but it has me wondering. Is this a telltale sign of a refurb/rehousing?

This could probably be answered very easily by anyone who has purchased a fleet of TRBO portables brand new. Did they all have their stubby antennas line up perfectly and consistently? Just curious.

 

[W9WSS]

My answer would be they placed the antennas with their UHF facing forward for display purposes. Any two-way radios I used, programmed, or repaired rarely had the frequency band visible to the front of the radio. As they were properly installed, they screwed on until they were finger tight.

 

[W6VVM]

I’m assuming that’s the case as well. I’ve never disassembled one of these HT’s before so I’m not sure how the female threaded antenna connector mounts to the PCB or chassis. Perhaps it is possible that as these units are built on the assembly line, the antenna connector is attached with the threads starting at various points between radios(?)

 

[mmckenna]

I’m assuming that’s the case as well. I’ve never disassembled one of these HT’s before so I’m not sure how the female threaded antenna connector mounts to the PCB or chassis. Perhaps it is possible that as these units are built on the assembly line, the antenna connector is attached with the threads starting at various points between radios(?)

I think you'd find it's more likely that when the antennas are molded, they don't pay attention to the threads.

I don't think I've ever seen a radio where the name on the antenna lines up with the front of the radio, and I'm not sure why it would matter. I agree with W9WSS, they do that for the photos, kind of like the fancy looking hamburgers they show on the McDonalds commercials.

 

[ElevatorsAndRadios]

When I was younger I would screw and unscrew my antennas several times to try and get them lined up with the nice /\/\ logo facing forward. Then I realized I had to stop giving into my OCD.

 

[clbsquared]

That’s the magic of photography. They probably just stopped threading the antenna when the label was lined up where they wanted it to be.

 

[PACNWDude]

+1 on those that see it as marketing and just a photo op setup. Here are three radios within my own arms reach this morning, all antennas are screwed in to stop. The Trbo XPR7550e has the flat UHF pointing slightly to the right, the XPR6550 has UHF to the left, and the APX4000 has 7-800 GPS pointing to the right slightly. Motorola does not cater to OCD/autism as much as people think.....even though many of us fall into that category. I do know people that try to line them up, they usually give up at some point, or go through the bin of antennas (here at work) until they find one that does line up.

 

[clbsquared]

Yep. The internal thread starts at the same position. And the external threads start at the same position. It doesn’t matter where you try to start, it’s always going to start and stop at the same point.

 

[N4KVE]

Lol. I’m anal about that. I always want the UHF facing forward with the antenna tight on my radios. When it doesn’t happen, I swap around other antennas with other radios. But there’s always a few that will not cooperate, so I go to the plumbing department at Home Depot, & get a tiny O-ring to take up the slack on the threaded part of the antenna. That always works.

 

[W6VVM]

Thanks for the replies. I’ve wondered about it for a few years and figured I’d finally get the answer. Aside from making me wonder if the radios had been hacked up, it wasn’t stressing me out. Glad to know it’s normal.