Can anyone provide me with any recommendations for a reliable, high-quality vehicle mounted mobile 2m/70cm vertical antenna? I’m in the UK so some of the better EU or USA only options probably aren’t realistic with shipping/import taxes, not sure.
I’m preferably looking for one that doesn’t require a ground plane (I think that means primarily either 1/4 ℷ or 1/2 ℷ rather than 5/8 ℷ?) It’s for mounting on the motorbike, and whilst there is good grounding for the ATAS-120A antenna I don’t want to rely on a groundplane per-se as you might get with a centrally mounted car antenna.
I’m happy with a full 1/2 wave antenna (on 2m these seem to run on average just short of a metre, unsurprisingly!)
So far I’m looking at the Diamond AZ-510. I need something that is reliable and well built for when I actually use it.
I took a search on the reflector and didn’t see anything relevant - and you lot know your stuff, so hopefully this will be useful to other folks.
I’d be interested to see your setup on the bike when you decide what to fit.
I ride my Triumph to SOTA activations at present but don’t have a transceiver mounted on the bike at the moment.
What did you do for vibration mounts ?
Andy
MM7MOX
Another antenna with almost identical specs to the AZ-510, which is the NR-770R. It can handle more power, and is heavier (does that mean sturdier?). Still 2x 5/8 on 70cm though. That’s the one I have - effectively a diamond X30 on my car.
HI Mark, I can recommend the Diamond AZ series: I have a slightly shorter one, AZ506 I think and I have been very happy with it. It’s very well made and feels like a quality build, just like the X50 I have on the chimney. It has a standard pl259 plug on the end so will fit most stuff. Works well too…
When a big dealer and/or manufacturer quotes antenna gain in dBi they are trying to hide something. Likewise when they quote dB but don’t qualify if it’s dBi or dBd then they are trying to hide something.
The 1/4wave needs a groundplane which is why it is known as a 1/4 wave GP (for ground plane).
It would be worth investigating the 1970/80s technology used by motorcycle police to see which antenna setups they used. Amateur mobile radio use is for fun whereas police mobile radio use was serious and had to work.
And remember when it comes to mobile antennas, TANSTAAFL!
Thanks for all the recommendations. Just to close this conversation out I ended up buying a Watson W-7900 which is a copy of the similarly numbered Diamond antenna. It has impressive paper stats:
Gain: 5.0dB (2 metres), 7.6dB (70cms)
Operation: 7/8 wave double loaded on 144MHz by 5/8 wave on 430MHz
I decided that maybe if the ATAS-120A was happy with the grounding that the motorbike provided maybe I shouldn’t be overly concerned with an antenna that doesn’t need one.
On a trial last week I parked up on the road near the main path to Gummer’s How G/LD-050 and was talking to a station in Millom before I had a break station from Colwyn Bay, so it is clearly working just fine on the motorbike.
It’s quite a tall antenna but with the lower mounting height on the motorbike is not unwieldy.
