Does anyone use a J-pole antenna?

[N4JKD]

Thinking about making me one for my handheld. Do they really work?

 

[Don_Burke]

Thinking about making me one for my handheld. Do they really work?

They work very well, but tend to be narrowbanded.

What are you listening for?

 

[mrweather]

I have one as a backup antenna. Made it out of copper tubing. Works well.

 

[N4JKD]

Ok. Thanks. Gonna make my own soon. Set it up for 146.000 and I can have coverage on all 2 meter.

 

[dwh367]

Thinking about making me one for my handheld. Do they really work?

My girlfriend uses one on her Icom IC-2100H and it works very well.

 

[dbsar]

If you hook up an external antenna such as a J-pole to an 2 meter HT unit, what kind of range (RX / TX) increase does it give you? I know factors such as hgt, trees, etc have an effect but was just wondering.

 

[mrweather]

Considering the duck antenna that comes with an HT has negative gain, anything will work better.

A potential downside is the better antenna might overload the receiver on the HT and actually make you think performance is worse.