Thorndike113
Member
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2014
- Messages
- 219
I figured I would post this for anyone who decides to spend $100 on a GMRS base antenna. DO NOT GET THIS ANTENNA!!!!
They are sold on Ebay and a few other sites. They claim that they have a low SWR on GMRS (460-470MHz) right out of the box. They do NOT! They are NOT tunable! I was at a loss because the SWR was hardly where I wanted it. I ended up putting a coax RF choke that I made for UHF on the antenna and the best I could do for an SWR was about 1.6:1 on the 462MHz portion of the band and 1.9:1 on the 467MHz portion of the band. There was a significant dip in the SWR giving it a 1:1 match on around 464MHz. I mounted it on the roof and sealed it up tight with the black sealing tape and electrical tape used on commercial setups. 1 week later my SWR shot up to 3:1 across the whole GMRS part of the band and anywhere else on UHF was through the roof. I am running a 45 watt radio on GMRS. The antenna is allegedly rated for 200 watts. I don't know what happened but I double checked and it is nothing on my end. I am running brand new coax and brand new connectors.
I know I should have gone with a Comet antenna but everywhere I checked says there is a GMRS base antenna shortage. No manufacturing of GMRS antennas? I can however find a wealth of Dual Band Ham antennas. I do not want dual band and I certainly DO NOT want HAM radio antennas. I guess I can see where most people are flocking to when it comes to radio. Its GMRS not HAM. I tried to get in contact with the person I purchased this antenna from with no response. At this point, I am seriously thinking of gutting the antenna I have and rebuilding its insides with a proper working GMRS antenna. I fortunately caught the SWR problem early and hopefully didn't fry my $200 radio. Be Aware of these garbage antennas. Very poor design.
I have now mounted my 1/4 wave ground plane antenna, that I built, in its place and it has a good SWR so I know its the Harvest antenna that was the issue.
They are sold on Ebay and a few other sites. They claim that they have a low SWR on GMRS (460-470MHz) right out of the box. They do NOT! They are NOT tunable! I was at a loss because the SWR was hardly where I wanted it. I ended up putting a coax RF choke that I made for UHF on the antenna and the best I could do for an SWR was about 1.6:1 on the 462MHz portion of the band and 1.9:1 on the 467MHz portion of the band. There was a significant dip in the SWR giving it a 1:1 match on around 464MHz. I mounted it on the roof and sealed it up tight with the black sealing tape and electrical tape used on commercial setups. 1 week later my SWR shot up to 3:1 across the whole GMRS part of the band and anywhere else on UHF was through the roof. I am running a 45 watt radio on GMRS. The antenna is allegedly rated for 200 watts. I don't know what happened but I double checked and it is nothing on my end. I am running brand new coax and brand new connectors.
I know I should have gone with a Comet antenna but everywhere I checked says there is a GMRS base antenna shortage. No manufacturing of GMRS antennas? I can however find a wealth of Dual Band Ham antennas. I do not want dual band and I certainly DO NOT want HAM radio antennas. I guess I can see where most people are flocking to when it comes to radio. Its GMRS not HAM. I tried to get in contact with the person I purchased this antenna from with no response. At this point, I am seriously thinking of gutting the antenna I have and rebuilding its insides with a proper working GMRS antenna. I fortunately caught the SWR problem early and hopefully didn't fry my $200 radio. Be Aware of these garbage antennas. Very poor design.
I have now mounted my 1/4 wave ground plane antenna, that I built, in its place and it has a good SWR so I know its the Harvest antenna that was the issue.