Smiley Antenna 5/8 Slim Duck tuned for 460 MHz

[voxiso]

Anyone know anything about this? Just ordered one for 460

 

[voxiso]

Will do a review of it once I get it

 

[W8RMH]

I've never seen these - let us know how they look / work

 

[ko6jw_2]

I have used several Smiley antennas. I have both 2m and 440 slim ducks. They are supposed to be equivalent to 5/8 wave antennas (use base loading). They custom make them as well as selling standard antennas for ham, commercial etc. Their claim to fame is that they are tuned to work with handhelds (no ground plane). I've been happy with them, but they are not miraculous. One nice thing is that they are modular. When I went to SMA connectors from BNC, I just ordered new base adapters for my existing antennas. I have:

2m slim duck
440 slim duck
2m/220 telescoping (1/4 wave)
220 telescoping 5/8 wave
2m telescoping 5/8 wave (very long to use on a handheld, but good)

California company from the San Diego area.

 

[voxiso]

Well they shipped it within an hour of ordering.. I will do a review. The antenna I got now RS 800Mz and RH77CA both I get 2 bars on the 460 range..

 

[voxiso]

Pure crap.. I went from two bars to nothing at all.. I already emailed these guys for a refund.. Pure ****.. I hooked my old antennas up and got what was missing. Then tried it with the new antenna to make sure for 460.0625..Fail. I get nothing. Even 154-159 is nothing but static.

 

[voxiso]

I got 6 ST2's in the box due to a guy I knew that ran a shop but I can not mount them outside.. What is the best for 460 ? Can any of you guys think of any?

 

[ko6jw_2]

A short loaded rubber duck will not perform better than a full size antenna. It's not crap it's just physics. It's like the aperture of a lens. The wider the aperture the more light. Antennas work the same way. The RH77CA is about 3/4 wavelength at 460 so, of course, it receives better. I've also used a Comet SMA 503. It's a full quarter wave on 460. If you're looking for a shorter antenna that might perform better you might try it. It also works well at 800Mhz.

 

[Anderegg]

I use RCBI antennas. They cut and tune them to order, and even provide a computer graph/chart showing the vSWR at every MHz! You specify your center frequency, as well as bandwidth wants. They make custom everything, you can even have them build a 500 foot radio tower. If you don't see something you need, just hit them up and ask them to fab something for you.

http://stores.ebay.com/rcbi?_rdc=1

Paul