A friend of mine recently sold me a Tram WSP1089SMA scanner antenna. It had an SMA connector and he needed a BNC. He bought the antenna for $13.00 on eBay. (Amazon has them for $30+.) I gave him $8.00 for it.
Anyway, I hooked it up to my 436 to check it out. It's actually a pretty good antenna. The paperwork says it good for "VHF/UHF/800 mHz-1300 mHz." I put the (mag mount) antenna on top of the car and immediately started picking up VHF signals 50 miles away. It filled in the gaps on the local Phase II 800 mHz system. The only UHF system around is only about 20 miles away and, for what it's worth, it was coming in clear.
Is it a great antenna? No. Is it a great antenna for $13? Definitely. It would be a good standby antenna. It's all wire so it's not fragile. You could throw it in the trunk and use it for emergencies. It's marketed as a scanner antenna so I would question using it on the smaller portables (Baofeng, etc.) to transmit.
Anyway, I hooked it up to my 436 to check it out. It's actually a pretty good antenna. The paperwork says it good for "VHF/UHF/800 mHz-1300 mHz." I put the (mag mount) antenna on top of the car and immediately started picking up VHF signals 50 miles away. It filled in the gaps on the local Phase II 800 mHz system. The only UHF system around is only about 20 miles away and, for what it's worth, it was coming in clear.
Is it a great antenna? No. Is it a great antenna for $13? Definitely. It would be a good standby antenna. It's all wire so it's not fragile. You could throw it in the trunk and use it for emergencies. It's marketed as a scanner antenna so I would question using it on the smaller portables (Baofeng, etc.) to transmit.
