I usually do not comment on such issues, but I was intrigued by the comparisons and wanted to evaluate the performance of the Uniden stock antennas vs the 842 models. I decided to use an SDS100 to test four antennas: The SDS100 stock antenna, a stock Uniden BNC antenna, the Remtronix 842S, and the 842B using the SDS100 RSSI display as a reference. I did this because it is a test that is easily reproducible by anyone who has an SDS100. I conducted the test using weak-to-moderate strength NOAA stations and TRS control channels across multiple bands. Specifically, I had the SDS100 on a solid surface, and for the tests I never moved the 100 but simply exchanged the antenna. For the BNC models I used a standard SMA-BNC adapter.
The results I found was that all four were within 1 dB of each other. Actually, the 842B, 842S, and stock Uniden BNC were identical, and the stock SDS100 antenna was reading the same or 1 dB weaker for all tests.
I re-ran the test in several locations and while the specific readings were different, they always showed the same relative reading with the SDS100 antenna being the same or 1 dB weaker than the rest. The overall range of the tests was in the -90 to -110 dB range.
This is not to say that Remtronix does not make some really good antennas, but I'm not seeing the difference some have claimed unless I compare the above antennas to a 3" stubby duck which always performed 10 dB lower than the others (except for the locations that put the signal below reception strength and unable to get an RSSI reading).
Take this as a biased evaluation if you want, and I can understand that, but others are free to reproduce the same test. Also keep in mind that the SDS100 only displays in whole units, so anything less than a 0.5 dB difference can show the same reading. Will a potential 1 dB difference changing from stock SDS100 to 842 make a difference in reception? In some cases it could, but the difference I see is far from night-to-day.
Now, testing the 810/820/830 antennas on 800 MHz does result in a measured 6 dB performance improvement over all the stock/842 models, but I would expect that for a single-band antenna over a tri-band antenna. Anyone expecting a tri-band antenna of similar size to work as well has unrealistic expectations.
I honestly was expecting to see a much larger difference in performance than I did based on the performance of the 810/820/830 models.
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