Diamond SRH77CA vs Comet SMA24

[KE4AIF]

Looking for a good 2M/440 HT antenna. Any comments on these or any better antennas?

[SWMAN]

 I bought the Diamond SRH77 just yesterday to hopefully help on my also new Yaesu FT 60 talkie. For 440 it helps alot with good reports on the Dallas repeater at 15 miles away. But for 2 meters it is not any better than the 8 inch ruber duck that came with the talkie. I was rather disapointed with it for 2 meters. For the Comet I have never tried it but I wish I had. Hopefully others here can comment also. Maybe I just have a bad one?   73  Jim  W5JJG

[K1WJ]

Try the Smiley 270A - tribander - read reviews here on e-ham. Works real good. 73 K1WJ

[N4CR]

Looking for a good 2M/440 HT antenna. Any comments on these or any better antennas?

It's likely that these two antennas will work nearly identically.

If you add a tiger tail either of them will work better. It's the other half of your antenna.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULynXY1Gq5g

[SWMAN]

 What is a Tiger Tail on a handie talkie antenna ?? Just curious. My Diamond SRH77 is just about usless on 2 meters. I hope that I can return it.

[WB6BYU]

"Tiger Tail" is a quarter wave radial wire hanging down from the antenna jack.  You can
make one yourself with some thin wire.

It can make a big difference on 2m:  I measured a bunch of antennas and found an
average improvement of 9dB over any antenna less than 1/4 wave tall.  That's because
the radio chassis is too small to serve as an effective ground plane.

What sort of performance are you expecting on 2m?  You can sometimes find
telescoping antennas and set them to 1/4 wavelength, or some other full-sized
quarter wave whip:  don't expect any HT antenna to do any better than that
(unless it is a half wave type about 38" long).

I use short duckies when I need convenience, and full sized ones when I need good
performance.

[N4CR]

What is a Tiger Tail on a handie talkie antenna ?? Just curious. My Diamond SRH77 is just about usless on 2 meters. I hope that I can return it.

A tiger tail is quite literally a counterpoise. The problem is that the same current must flow on both halves of your antenna system. Whether your antenna is a dipole or a quarter wave ground plane there are two halves to every antenna.

On an HT, the other half of your antenna is your HT metal chassis and it's coupling with you holding it. It makes for a not very effective other half. The tiger tail provides a tuned other half and that increases current flow on the radiating element, the HT antenna.

The difference can be surprising and I generally leave one attached to my HT all the time. I use RG-174 and just connect the braid to the ring connector. This gives me a supple and quite wiggly 'Tiger Tail' that doesn't get caught on things or get in the way. Stiff wire can be used but it's inconvenient a lot of the time.

[SWMAN]

Can I leave the rubber duck on and connect a piece of wire to the bottom of the TNC ?

[SWMAN]

 I meant to say SMA

[N4CR]

Can I leave the rubber duck on and connect a piece of wire to the bottom of the TNC ?

I just find a ring connector that will fit under the screw on antenna and still allow the center pin to connect. Then attach an appropriate length of wire to it and you're done. But any way that the tiger tail attaches to the shield side of the antenna connector will work. My first one was just 19" of wire with 1/2" stripped and splayed into a V. Then I laid that over the connector and tightened the antenna to hold it in place. Once you find out how good it works, you'll want a more permanent solution.

[NJ3U]

I'm using the SRH77CA on my Yaesu VX8 HT for nearly two years now and have only good experiences with it.  I travel worldwide with this in my briefcase and it takes all the flexing I've given it.  I use it for portable ops with simplex from mountain tops using APRS and locally with my WARG repeater w/ good results.

Much better results then with the stock Yaesu ant.

My only caution to you would be be careful with torquing the chassis mounting point on the HT since that will be the failure point.

73 NJ3U Rory