Motorola Antenna use on a Baofeng?

[C138NC]

Ok i know ive been here for a long time and i never posted here in this section before, this may sound like a dumb question but i use to have an astro saber and i bought an antenna like this one

and I have this one on the baofeng currently

.

If i use the other antenna on the baofeng, will it fry my radio or mess it up in some way? Im only using it on low power for MURS only. Just wondering if anyone could tell me what the possibilities would be if i use this antenna instead of the whip antenna.

 

[mmckenna]

The antenna you posted pictures of is -looks- like a wide band or higher gain VHF antenna similar to those used on some Motorola handhelds. If the connector is the same, and that is actually what it is, it should work just fine, in fact, it may outperform the other one.

Usually, with real Motorola antennas, the connector on the end will have a color coded center insulator. That should tell you the frequency.

 

[C138NC]

its red, i had a VHF astro saber 2 that i bought it for but sold it long ago but kept the antenna

 

[mmckenna]

Red color and from the looks, it's the wide band VHF helical antenna. If it's about 8 inches long, that would confirm it.

That would be a suitable antenna for MURS use.

 

[C138NC]

Ok just checking, didnt know if it would look goofy on the baofeng uv82, being its only... 5in and there is a long antenna on it but hopefully it would give me a little better gain or db? or wouldnt really be any different?

 

[mmckenna]

We use MTS2000's at work that have those antennas on it, but they are taller than the Baofeng. Might look a bit goofy, but if it's performance you want, do be concerned about looks.

Might work a bit better, but don't expect a huge difference. An antenna usually requires a ground plane (dependent on exact design), and the ground plane underneath the antenna plays into the equation. A 5 inch tall radio doesn't provide much in the way of a suitable ground plane for VHF. It's barely enough to make a suitable ground plane for the upper part of the UHF band.

 

[C138NC]

mmm ok well ill just keep the whip antenna with me just incase... i just like performance better then the looks anyways, aslong as it works

 

[mmckenna]

You can try finding a NOAA broadcast that is a bit weak and try swapping antennas back and forth. It'll give you an idea if there is an obvious improvement or not. Sometimes that little bit of extra performance is all you need to get your message through.