Coltman—January 10, 2014✓ Verified purchase
I was almost skeptical about buying something so cheap. the factory ducky on my hand-held was already doing everything I need it to, as I live on a hilltop surrounded by flat land. I already had an order on amazon ready and thought what the heck, I'm gonna throw it in there. Let me say it was an awesome 3 bucks. I don't have any of the fancy measuring tools other reviewers have, so I'm going by my Ear-o-meter. Pros -Flexible! I was always worried about my factory duck breaking the connector, especially since this radio rides in a molle pouch on a backpack 75% of the time. this thing will bend 180 degrees at a fairly sharp angle and still whip back. I have had it on my belt too and it's even less noticeable than the factory antenna. -I originally was receiving 3 different weather bands. I'm now receiving 5 of them from a long ways away. -I'm picking up FM radio (87-108mhz) signals clearer than I can in a vehicle. (keep in mind this antenna isn't designed for that low of a frequency) -Looks much better (if that even matters to people lol) -antenna fits snug on radio, no trimming, and stays on tighter than the factory one. Cons -I'm worried that one good bend on the antenna will deform it permanently. I don't want to test this until I buy a second or the 15 inch version -kinda wish the plastic bullet shape on the base was rubber, and that this will be the weak link in the antenna. -Not a deal breaker, but it just doesn't sit perfectly straight on my radio. mine seems to be off front to back when the antenna is fully seated. NOTE: I haven't had a chance to transmit with it yet. I've only got two repeaters in the area and I was hitting both of those with zero problems before. overall for 3 dollars and change plus shipping, I'm stoked. I know it's a knockoff, but so far I'm out of a grand total of 50 bucks for a so far rewarding and potentially useful hobby. With cheap upgrades like this, it might just be the cheapest hobby I've ever had. Read more
William J—March 25, 2014✓ Verified purchase
I have a feeling that this antenna was some sort of random discovery by customers; not something that was intended to be this good; kinda like the 1000 monkeys writing Shakespeare deal, while it is statistically possible, it is highly unlikely it will happen, so perhaps between antennae runs are different as well... So far, all 3 antennae I've purchased here (2 SMA-F and 1 SMA-M) all came straight. Interestingly though is that the SMA-M version is about 1 cm longer than the SMA-F, yet performance was equal, as in, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. The test involved several rubber ducky antennae (12 total, including a tribander JTH2 antenna, a few dedicated UHF ones and a few dual banders) The radio TH-F6A was used for recording the signal strength on the S meter; always from the same spot for known repeaters/stations/airports on Airband / 2 meter / 70 cm bands. All tests were performed from the coffee table in our living room. Now, take this for what is worth: its a rubber duck small antenna, and as such, my magmount mobile antenna beat them all by a good margin, but then again, I can't carry around the magmount antenna... Frequencies RX tested were: Willow Run airport ATIS: using AM ~127.430 (~10 miles) KE8HR repeater: FM (narrow) 146.760 mhz (~30 miles) KIH29 162.475 mhz: FM (narrow) (NOAA) (~52 miles)) WJR 450.750 mhz FM (narrow) (~30 miles) I didn't test 220 because I don't have another radio that can RX on 220... I was pleasantly surprised to see it picking Airband, although not as good as the JTH2, it outperformed all other antennae in the test and matched the stock TH-F6A duck. The overall performance in 2 meters was really good, the only antenna that beat it was the JTH2 by certain situations, in other situations it matched it. I also tested two different BF GT-3 antennae (the older model and the newer model which is a little shorter with a flat top) and although the newer model is arguably better, they don't come close to match this antenna in 2 Meters; neither in 144 mhz nor 162 mhz... that shows the RX freq range of this antenna is pretty wide. 2nd best, losing only to an antenna that is twice as long and four times more expensive... kinda expected. The stock TH-F6A antenna showed similar performance around the low 140 mhz range, but once it went to the high VHF freqs, 150-170 (MURS, NOAA) the Experpower was able to beat it by on S on the meter. The surprise was on UHF tho, where the Experpower antenna smoked the competition. I was able to get S9 on the WJR station from my living room, the 2nd best was one my single band UHF antenna for my old GMRS radios, which got fluctuating S7~S8. The worst was the Midland G-11 stock stubby duck, which was deaf; and 2nd worst was the JTH2 with just S2... horrendous in UHF, even worse than the stock TH-F6A rubber duck which got ~S6. simplex TX performance test: Base: Magmount mobile antenna inside house using a BF GT-3. Moving: x1 TH-F6A x1 GT-3 In VHF it was able to reach 5.67 miles on nearly flat semi-suburban town area with houses and vegetation. We couldn't hear each other at all at that range. Reception was S8 when last contact (around 4.6 miles), so probably we couldn't get a clear path or we were at a lower altitude... it seemed like equal range to the JTH2. UHF wasn't as good, only reaching a tad over 3 miles before I couldn't hear base but base could hear me. Perhaps due to the fact that the GT-3 has only 3 watts vs. 5 watts on the TH-F6A? So, there you have it, for ~6 bucks + S&H you can't get much better than this rubber duck IMO. G. Read more
