HT Antenna Comparison - Signal Stick, Diamond SRH770S and Abbree

Great video, Craig. Interesting way to test, for sure, but excellent results. 73

 

FWIW I happen to already have the Diamond antenna, but usually use it's smaller relative the SRH77CA instead. HRO has their version of the tactical antenna, the TAC-SMA. But it's twice the price of the Abbree.

 

Probably the reason that alot of the shorter duckies are crappy, is because they are not even resonant in the band. I recently took a vintage duckie and measured it to be resonant below the 2M band, where it would be a fair match on 144 but not higher up. I trimmed a couple turns off the top and got a good SWR match just above 146. Would likely make little difference in reception but your transmitter would be happier with a decent match. The way some are configured it would be difficult to alter them for any sort of tuning. If you put your antennas from your portables on an analyzer, be ready for some disappointment.

 

I have compared a number of HT antennas using a signal strength meter. I found that the biggest positive difference was by attaching a quarter-wave counterpoise. With the counterpoise, the worst antenna performed way better than the best antenna without a counterpoise. However, I recall that the counterpoise had no value when used with a half-wave HT antenna, as one might expect. BTW, the half-wave antenna was the best, even without the counterpoise.

 

How did you test it? Remember, being mounted on the radio and held in the hand is going to change the SWR from the value measured on a static test bench. The radio IS part of the antenna system.

 

I guess I have better luck with my Abree re flexibility. High desert so we definitely have our wind. I wouldn't consider it a daily carry antenna, but it's part of my field HT kit. I also have to echo the counterpoise comment. I use a Rat Tail on my HTs and I've found that it makes a significant difference. Nice comparison work, thank you.

 

Nice video . Field testing, if done at the same time, same place, etc, will have more sway with me than a lab test.
Of all the hand held antennas out there, how did you decide to test these three?
They were all about $20. Diamond makes a good portable called the SRH 77CA that gets very good reviews for hand helds.

 

Well, I appreciate you taking the time to make this video. Unfortunately, the video is of virtually no value. The testing parameters are unknown and inconsistent. You haven't told us what band you're on or what power level. It appears that in your most distant test you are at a higher elevation than the previous locations. You are testing with other stations who are mobile which will give inconsistent results. You're not taking into account differences in signal due to holding the radio in different positions which on 70 CM would be more pronounced than on 2 M. Your position relative to your vehicle could have an effect as well. All in all, no usefull information about the performance of the antennas.

 

Thanks for the comment and for watching. I wanted to use 3 antennas of similar size and I heard good things about all three. I figured more people would like to see three different antennas used out in the "field" than some boring lab test.I have the SRH77CA and it is a great antenna.

 

I bought the Diamond SRH-770S after using Nagoya cheapies which were better than the standard rubber duck. Saw some improvement with the Diamond. I saw a YT video where a ham tested several of the ABBREE variants (different lengths). Tried one myself, now all my primary HTs are equipped with an ABBREE variant. I did not go whole hog for the 4 footers but did get the ~18" units. They perform as well or better than the Diamond unit for me here in N. Georgia. My experience reflects the field test results presented here. In the interests of transparency I use FT-60s, and a Radioddity G510. You can fold the ABBREE antennas in half and in thirds for the long ones to bring the carried length < 10". To deploy for effective transmit, you just pull the velcro tab and it pops back up to full length. One issue for the FT-60 and the ABBREE is the base of the antenna is too fat to rotate the power on/volume knob. I just took a Dremel to the ABBREE base and trimmed enough off to allow the knob to rotate. Not an issue for "single" top knob HTs.