RS 800mhz. Clone

[Blackswan73]

I recently purchased a Remtronix 800B antenna from Universal Radio. This is the new replacement for the popular, and highly regarded RadioShack 800mhz. rubber duck antenna. Since the discontinuation of the RS 800, prices of NOS and used RS 800s have been skyrocketing. I was searching for a reasonable prices RS800, when I stumbled onto the Remtronix 800B. The price at $21.95 new, was less than the lowest price used I could find for the RS800. I decided to try the new RS 800 clone. It arrived a few days ago, and I have been testing it interchangably with an original RS800. I must say I am impressed. It actually seems to work even better than the original RS800. The antenna is manufactured in Japan. Not sure where the original was manufactured. I have posted a pic of both antennas side by side, and it can be readily seen that the Remtronix 800B, is not an exact clone of the RS800. It is actually 1/8" longer than the RS antenna, and yes, I made sure both caps were pushed all the way down. Perhaps this may account for the better performance of the new antenna. The antenna is also made in a SMA version designated as the Remtronix 800S. If you are lookin for a high quality, excellent performing antenna for your handheld, or base scanner, this is it. A worthy successor to the RS800.

 

[gewecke]

Thanks for this info! Interesting.... 73,n9zas

 

[geartow]

There is a radio shack near me that has the rs800 old stock 2 or 3 of them.

 

[WQPW689]

I have both the BNC and SMA types and agree they are excellent antennas. I could be wrong, but I thought Remtronix was the OEM manufacturer of the Radio Shack models.

 

[nosoup4u]

i didn't realize they had an SMA model out now. I might have to pick one of those up.

 

[Voyager]

Remtronix wasn't the OEM of the RS antennas, but you are close. GRE was the OEM manufacturer (or designer at least).

Remtronix is a company started by ex-GRE America employees who no doubt had access to the IP of GRE, so I would not call the 800B a clone of the original - it is very likely identical to the original in every way minus the printing on the base.

It is nice that they also added an SMA version to the lineup.

 

[Blackswan73]

The original was made in Taiwan. The new ones are made in Japan.

 

[GTO_04]

I recently purchased a Remtronix 800B antenna from Universal Radio. This is the new replacement for the popular, and highly regarded RadioShack 800mhz. rubber duck antenna. Since the discontinuation of the RS 800, prices of NOS and used RS 800s have been skyrocketing. I was searching for a reasonable prices RS800, when I stumbled onto the Remtronix 800B. The price at $21.95 new, was less than the lowest price used I could find for the RS800. I decided to try the new RS 800 clone. It arrived a few days ago, and I have been testing it interchangably with an original RS800. I must say I am impressed. It actually seems to work even better than the original RS800. The antenna is manufactured in Japan. Not sure where the original was manufactured. I have posted a pic of both antennas side by side, and it can be readily seen that the Remtronix 800B, is not an exact clone of the RS800. It is actually 1/8" longer than the RS antenna, and yes, I made sure both caps were pushed all the way down. Perhaps this may account for the better performance of the new antenna. The antenna is also made in a SMA version designated as the Remtronix 800S. If you are lookin for a high quality, excellent performing antenna for your handheld, or base scanner, this is it. A worthy successor to the RS800.

Great find! I have been hoping for an SMA version of this antenna for years! Order placed.

GTO_04

 

[dosboot]

I have the Radio shack version of the antenna, it works great for 800MHZ


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mancow]

The increase in length makes sense, the RS800 is tuned too high (867 MHz). I need to get one of these new ones to try now. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[mancow]

I have both the BNC and SMA types and agree they are excellent antennas. I could be wrong, but I thought Remtronix was the OEM manufacturer of the Radio Shack models.

Wow SMA. Thanks for the info. I got to have one of these or four.

 

[nd5y]

The increase in length makes sense, the RS800 is tuned too high (867 MHz).

I bought two RS antennas years ago. They were both resonant around 870 MHz. I lengthened one so it was resonant around 856 MHz and the other I cut down to 935 MHz. They both work the same on scanners for receiving 851-940 MHz trunked systems so the exact length doesn't seem to make much difference.