~150-155 VHF Base Antenna Medium-Duty / Semi-Compact (Commercial, MURS, Marine)

[chiwititsara]

Posting this in 'commercial' (and am looking at such categories on AntennaFarm and elsewhere) as I am looking for like a VHF-only base antenna that is of decent quality (though, this will not be mounted on a mountain or inaccessible tower - rather a backyard tower).

I'd like to receive marine transmissions, scan local commercial/public safety VHF, and transmit (2w, I know) on MURS. Wider bandwidth would be nice but not critical.

I'm currently using a 1/4 wave emwave whip with ground plane kit and having decent results. It's compact, wide-bandwidth, and well worth the sub-$150 in components. But it isn't very durable. And I suspect there are better options out there.

Are there good medium-duty antennas for 150-155 MHz in the ~$100 - $250 range? I would prefer something under 5-6' and don't need much gain.

Some ideas I've seen...

-Diamond BC103 (super wide bandwidth, what's the catch?)
-Browning BR-6051 (unclear what this is - a 1/4 wave no-ground-plane? would it out/underperform my current 1/4 wave setup w/ ground plane?)
-Diamond X50C2 (getting a little long)
-Laird CRS150 (good experiences w/ Laird but can't figure out what a 'rugged ringo' actually is)
-Laird FG1500 (again, like Laird, though having trouble finding this in stock)

 

[cbehr91]

If it were me and price were no consideration I'd pick the Shakespeare 2774. If you insist on something shorter perhaps the Comet GP-1?

 

[prcguy]

If it were me and price were no consideration I'd pick the Shakespeare 2774. If you insist on something shorter perhaps the Comet GP-1?

I have a few of the HS2774s and they are great for their size, problem is they are pricy new. I picked up three on eBay over the years cheap and the last one was NIB in the $35 range.