Hockey puck

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VK2GEL

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Hi all, am looking for a hockey puck style low profile vehicle antenna for 2 metres, and preferably 70cm as well.

Prefer puck style but may consider can style.

Any advice appreciated, thanks. G.
 
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mmckenna

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Any advice appreciated, thanks. G.

Any advice?

Sure. Don't do it.
You can't take a 19" long whip and cram it into a 3 inch tall plastic can. You can try, but they don't radiate worth poop. They are very narrow banded. They won't handle much power.
Every one I know who has tried one of the "low profile" VHF antennas has regretted it. I think the most any one has lasted was about a week. It was removed and replaced with a 19" whip.
The only good application for the 'soup can' VHF antennas is short range, narrow bandwidth, and in case you missed it, short range.

Cheaper to just buy a dummy load, and works about as well. At least the dummy load has more bandwidth.

On UHF, they work OK. Not great, but not as bad as on VHF.

The only dual band VHF/UHF low profile antennas I've seen are from Cheap Chinese Antenna manufacturers.

Reputable companies that make low profile VHF antennas, like Sti-Co don't make these. They know they don't work. They make them that hide in the AM/FM antenna, behind a license plate, inside the bumper, etc.

Really, don't waste your money.

If low profile is what you want, use a 19" whip. It'll work well on VHF as a 1/4 wave, and will work on UHF as a 3/4 wave. They are thin, and blend in well.

Here's what a UHF model looks like. Now imagine trying to jam 19" of radiator in there...
 

tunnelmot

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The irony of the VHF soup cans is that they're more noticeable/visible than a black 1/4 wave. I can see VERY limited situations where they may be a last resort solution. But in ham or frequency agile uses...naw.
 

robertmac

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Yep bought one to try. Did seem to transmit 144.39 as APRS low power but not UHF. Only on for 1 day because of this and never did review SWR. May some day but don't think it will matter as what does one adjust?
 

dazey77

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This is a uk company that primarilly does PMR type antennas and quite a bit of covert for the uk services. I have a small UHF through glass antenna from them.

Most of their VHF antennas are whips but they also have a covert dipole, perhaps this would work for you?
VCD | Covert Dipole Antenna

They do have a puck but its omni and not going to give great range as others say
 

a417

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I'm going to go pop apart one of the (Antennex) Laird Phantom Elites when I find it in the archives.
 

Golay

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Like everyone is saying, don't buy a 2 meter hockey puck. We tried a VHF one on a fire truck at work. Nothing but a dummy load. Couldn't hear it two miles away. Took it off, and put the 18" whip back on for a vast improvement.
I think the vendor had one in his trunk, and sweet talked the fire chief into trying it. "Look how cool this is" or something like that.

Now I can't critique the same thing at UHF. We ran them on forklifts, and I think they do fine for range.
(Fire and Security at work is VHF, everyone else is UHF).

To be honest (and I think someone else said the same thing) just put a 19" black quarter wave on. Nobody notices antennas anymore. Look at the factory antennas on cars now. Is it not basically the same thing? The days of a 2 meter or 440 quarter wave "standing out" are over, if you ask me.
 
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spanky15805

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I got stuck on "they don't radiate worth poop". Personally I think a 19" whip is a lot less obvious, where the general public needs to be oblivious, especially with the current environment . A properly tuned quarterwave on 2 meters, with a ground plane is the gold standard.
 
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