This is an old topic that comes to the surface a couple of time a year. The bottom
line is that a stubby antenna, regardless of frequency, is a compromise. People
use them because they just plain don't like the long functional antennas.
When you use a stubby antenna, it lacks the electrical characteristics of being an
efficient antenna. You have less capture area to receive a signal. The TX side
of a stubby is no different. It lacks the ability to get you TX signal out and away
from the radio. This doesn't matter if it is mounted on the radio or up on your
shoulder with the antenna on the speaker mic. As the use of the speaker mic
and antenna raises it up off your hip, it does radiate better. However, most
antennas need some sort of ground to interact with and make them function.
The speaker mic has no ground for the antenna to work with. So by the
design itself, it doesn't work that efficiently to begin with.
To cut to the chase here, if your in a strong signal area, it probably doesn't
matter what you use for an antenna. On the other side of the picture, if you
operate in a marginal area where the signals in both directions may or may
not allow you solid communications, a stubby WILL NOT WORK.
So you can make your own choice as to which antenna fits your application.
Jim
kyparamedic said:
Oops, sorry. I'm using an LPE-200 on an 800 MHz EDACS system. I'm just looking to replace the antenna on the speaker mic with something shorter. However, I don't want to if it's going to make a big difference in reception. I get noticeably better reception on my radio than those who don't have an antenna on their speaker mic's and rely on the one on their radio that's clipped to their belt.