How to Select the Best HT Antenna

Here's a note we received from Pat Little in Ontario on Jan 25, 2017. He gave us permission to reproduce it here because I felt we could learn something from his experience with using an SMA-M antenna on a radio with an SMA-F base (EG: typically found on Yaesu, Standard, some Icom, and TYT radios). One take-away I get from this is, be careful not to over-tighten your antenna (With the SMA-F antennas that I used on my Wouxun and Anytone's, and the MX on the Motorola HT1250, I used to find putting some lock tight on the antenna threads helped mitigate the generous rate at which I seemed to transfer antennas from my duty belt to the landscape.)

"Dating back to seeing the flashing lights and sounds of the police radios on my grandfather's Radio Shack scanner, I have always had a passion for radio. Lately, I have been tinkering with my collection of ham and marine radios in prep for another season of water and hiking activities at the cottage. I would like to pass on a lesson learned.

Recently, I have been experimenting with different antenna types. I purchased a Diamond clone from a Chinese manufacturer. After testing the antenna on a Yaesu VX-6, when I attempted to remove the antenna, I discovered the female end of the radio antenna connector had become embedded into the antenna's male connector. While I may have tightened the antenna a little too much when I put it on in the first place, it appeared the quality of the antenna's connector suffered from poor workmanship and that was the primary source of the issue. Now the VX-6 has to be sent in for a repair. 

In my search for a better antenna, I discovered glowing reviews of Smiley Antennas on eham.net. Lorrie from Smiley referred me to Mountain Parameters. The service from John Kellas has been exceptional. Moreover, the quality of workmanship and performance of the IPX6 line is top notch. As a result, I am looking forward to a great season of kayaking with my IPX6 fleet!"

So, back to best practices for "How to Choose".

- Frequency list.
Determine the highest and lowest frequencies in both the UHF and VHF bands. If they span more than 10mHz, you need more than one rubber duck, or a telescoping antenna. If you have both UHF and VHF, you need antennas that are made for each band. Never use a VHF antenna on a UHF frequency, and vis-versa.

- Base connector (see our chart)

- Durability.
 If you need a rugged antenna, choose IPX6, otherwise the standard duck will work.

- Rat Tail.
Consider this if you anticipate being on the very fringe of your transmit/receive zone and have to pull in a weak signal or hit a distant target. (Same thing goes for telescoping antennas). Otherwise you do not need one.

- Center tuned point.
If you use one frequency a lot, be sure to use an antenna that is tuned as close as possible. For example, as in the case of Pat's fleet above, his primary use is marine frequencies for kayaking. Therefore he chose to have all his antennas center tuned to 155MHz (we normally color code those to blue, in this case Pat wanted all black, so we built his in black for him). (If the antenna's range is 150-160, then it is center tuned to 155MHz).

- Stubby Duck?
If you are working line of sight or close proximity to your base or with a helicopter, then a stubby is very convenient. Note because they are also tuned to your operating frequency, we may have to special order it for you, although we try to stock 155 and 165.