Phantom Comparison

[Gezelle007]

Does anyone have a working, in place Antenex/Laird ETRAB1550, a commercial VHF Elite Phantom antenna. I'm trying to see what it looks like on an actual vehicle or something and theres really nothing in Google Images except cross sections of it... Im just trying to see if its much bigger than the normal phantom antennas.

 

[newsphotog]

I have an ETRAB1550, I've never used though since I favor my ETRAB8063. But it looks just like this: http://www.wpsantennas.com/ProductImages/Antenex/ETRAb1500.jpg

The length of it is a little smaller than my hand (middle finger to the bottom of my palm) and is about 2.5" tall.

 

[a1emt]

Here's a photo of my 2005 Tahoe with both VHF and UHF Phantom elite antennas installed. They look cool, but what you get in low profile/looks, you pay for in performance. I melted the UHF one with my XTL5000 and the VHF performed worse than a simple 1/4 wave NMO. So that's the tradeoff... If your working local high-profile repeaters with good coverage, your fine... if you need simplex and good RX sensitivity, leave them alone. Oh, and if you're working out of band... the sensitivity is degraded too.

 

[Gezelle007]

Yeah that's what I was looking for a1. I was thinking about getting one- I'm not anymore. But your right, there is that danger of having them melt with all that power haha and I didn't expect them to perform better than any whips. But if you were in a densely populated city area I'm sure they would do alright for what they were made for. Just curious how much power were you putting through it when one of them melted lmao!?

 

[a1emt]

My XTL5000 UHF is a 110 watt radio... the UHF Phantom elite is rated for 100. I guess there is little room for error built in.. LOL. It is my hammy radio, so the TX keydowns are pretty long too. One day I noticed the antenna was slightly deformed/bent near the base. Initially thought it was damage from the carwash. On closer inspection I could smell the acrid odor of burnt circuit boards . I run a Laird 3db gain UHF with no problems now. Overall, Laird (Antennex) makes EXCELLENT products!!!

 

[Gezelle007]

My XTL5000 UHF is a 110 watt radio... the UHF Phantom elite is rated for 100. I guess there is little room for error built in.. LOL. It is my hammy radio, so the TX keydowns are pretty long too. One day I noticed the antenna was slightly deformed/bent near the base. Initially thought it was damage from the carwash. On closer inspection I could smell the acrid odor of burnt circuit boards . I run a Laird 3db gain UHF with no problems now. Overall, Laird (Antennex) makes EXCELLENT products!!!

Ah haha, Well that sucks and yeah I bet that must have smelled terrible. I have a vhf whip from Antenex and it does a great job so far.

 

[FFPM571]

the VHF are only rated for 60 W