Ham Radio - The ABBREE VHF UHF "tactical" antenna.

Shut up and take my money!

 

Er, maybe for a 3-50Z by the looks of the size...?

 

the one at far right is reminiscent of the radio shack center-loaded cb antennas from the 70s. also
L-shaped for tabletop use?

 

what does 'tactically folded' mean? is there a 'civilian folded' model?

 

Of course! There's one for every occasion and type of user! We are in this for EVERYONE'S money!

 

there are a hundred fields in which advertisers use buzz-words that stimulate the spending of money
on things that work poorly or not at all- peloton exercise equipment comes first to mind. why are the
users/models all buff? there should be progressive scenes showing progress. then there's the little
pedal doodad one pedals in front of your recliner while watching an action film- and eating ho-ho's,
koo-koo's, ring-dings, ding dongs, snicker doodles, flim-flams, whoppers (a personal fave, but we're
not here to discuss MY sins or sinning-ohhhhhh, no), cheetos (same again on the personal sinning),
et al.
i can just see tom cruise swinging on a cable, reaching out of your 4-d tv screen to grab a handfull
of your ticky-tacky's and taking a big swig of your beer/ultra-high sugar sodawater**, then receding and
going back into action.

 

Tactically folded - current day.


Back in my day, the smart RTO would tuck the AT/892 (PRC-77 blade antenna) into their LBE to avoid being any more of a target. Nothing like a big old AT/271 sticking up out of the elephant grass to draw incoming fire.

Civilian folding - I have no idea.

 

Airsoft LARP'er kid antenna

 

Antenna costs more that the radio ?

 

That's actually a good thing (especially so at HF and still valid for VHF/UHF dxing).

Usually hams spend more on the rig and then cheap-out on coax and antennas which are the crucial element in the overall equation.

 

I have to admit all these comments are very confusing to me. Here's why...

Despite the huge growth in Techs in the last 15 years, the actual number of users on repeaters has dropped like a stone. IOW people aren't using their HT handhelds. They are stowing them away.

So I see a highly publicized product review on QRZed, and I have to wonder WHY we are seeing it, when so FEW actual USERS are using HT's.

What, exactly, is this pending disaster that will bring the dust off the HT's and REQUIRE a tactical antenna?

???

If we address the supposed issue, then the cocommitant 'best antenna' solution can then be addressed.

 

Not my radio.

 

I'm somewhat curious about cost price. Few years ago I heard a Baojunk radio costs some $7 EXW. I can neither confirm nor refute this figure. Anyway EXW price includes the manufacturer's profit.

Baojunk radio roughly consists of:

• endless number of plastic elements to be assembled to chassis, charger, battery, as well as knobs
• battery itself
• keyboards (front DTMF and side PTT+F keys)
• complete PCB with LCD
• charger PCB no matter how simple it is
• rubber duck (BTW not the worst of them)
• wall power supply
• screws and so on
• cardboard box
• plastic inserts for cardboard box
• large number of LDPE bags
• printed almost user manual
• probably handstrap
• etc.

Antenna consists of:

• antenna itself (more or less similar to one that comes with Baojunk radio as the standard)
• LDPE or similar bag

Hmm... Looks not exactly comparable.

 

"Tactical". I don't think this word means what you think it means. Complete Chinese junk antenna. But it's a good match for the "tactical-military" overpriced Baofeng junk radio.

 

This may work on HF. One could build basic still uncompromising antenna like a groundplane or a dipole for cheap from pieces of wires, probably some pipes, and other crap. Losses in cheap coax may still be negligible on HF. With some more effort one could build more advanced antenna like wire Moxon or wire Yagi from the same crap. That said doesn't necessary mean this will work on HF still it may.

VHF and up is pretty different thing. One 20' Yagi on an azimutal rotator is absolute minimum for digital modes and is below absolute minimum for CW. I'd say four stacked 20' Yagis on an alt-azimutal rotator is the absolute minimum. Not only boom length itself matters but the pattern: each antenna apart has to have smooth main lobe and deeply suppressed side and rear lobes as if stacked unwanted lobes will be 'amplified' so the stack's F/B may not reach desired figures.

Saying VHF and up I mean EME as the only matter worth time, money, and effort for a DX'er.

HTs aren't bad themselves but if their use is limited to a local relay they could become source of boredom pretty fast. There could be many really good people on the local relay but in two weeks you already know every buddy's story by heart. So after initial and no doubt sincere delight an HT user hides the HT away and either switches to HF or abandons hamradio at all.

Some OPs are just experienced enough to realize the antenna is the most valuable part of entire station. Not exactly necessarily but sometimes the most valuable means the most expensive as well. Especially if a rotator is to be calculated as an integral part of the antenna.