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Different Antennas

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campsteag

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What would happen if I used a VHF antenna on a UHF handheld such as a Kenwood TK-3180?

Thanks,
Tyler
 

popnokick

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Handheld antennas... Even when matched to the freq of the handheld...are always signal-dropping compromises. Using a VHF antenna on a UHF handheld will not likely do any damage, but will severely reduce your transmitted and receive signals. And the reason you want to do that is.....(?)
 
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campsteag

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No reason just wondering thought a vhf antenna had more gain. Would it be ok if I used an old TV antenna on a UHF Base station? reason being our neighborhood is not allowed to have antennas but I have one in my attic.
 

AgentCOPP1

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VHF antennas do not necessarily have more gain. In fact it's slightly easier to get more gain out of UHF antennas for technical reasons that I don't think you care about.

You cannot just pick up a random antenna like from your TV or your basement trash can and expect it to work properly. For every frequency range that you transmit on, you will need a different length antenna (matched to the proper frequency). An equation for antenna length is: 300=Frequency (in MHz) x Wavelength (in meters). You would then divide your wavelength by 4 if you want a quarter wave antenna, 8 if you want a 1/8th antenna etc.

I highly doubt your TV antenna will work unless it has been tuned to a frequency very close to what you want. Also, TV antennas are not designed to transmit signals (only receive) so it could be very sloppily matched and possibly destroy your radio if you try to put too much signal through it. I would strongly advise against it until you could give me more information on the antenna, what radio you have, what frequency you want to transmit on, and what radio service you are using.
 

wa1nic

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I got an MFJ antenna analyzer last year and in my excitement to play with it I grabbed a massive handful of VHF "rubber ducks" that I had accumulated over the years and started playing with them.

The results were amusing. Some seemed to be resonant somewhere near the VHF band, others were horrible and had SWR's that were unworkable (numbers like "9:1"). SWR doesn't mean all that much if it is within reason, but some of these were horrible. I even had some with an SMA connector on them that came with a brand new VHF perimeter sensor transmitter (made in China) that I think may have actually been a WiFi antenna. I called the US importer and they admitted that they had a problem when they switched from a BNC connector (used on earlier models) to an SMA connector. They simply shipped me an entire new transmitter + antenna free of charge.

Best suggestion I have now is "try it and see how it works".

Rick
 
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