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Reviews For: Niljon Super-M Mobile Antenna

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Omnidirectional: verticals, mobile, etc

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Review Summary For : Niljon Super-M Mobile Antenna
Reviews: 7MSRP: ~ 70.00
Description:
VHF/UHF Mobile Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.niljon.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0073.9
VE6ND Rating: 2015-10-28
Copied from Harris Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Knowing that this is an older article there are some things left out. First this is not a new design, it is the top end of a Harris mono pole disc one from years ago. I saw these in the army and this would be the top end. The bottom is virtually the same.
Second there is no dual polarity from this design, the elements were angled much like the discone it represents.
Third, I built this from the Harris antenna design years ago using Hustler elements.
I made also a low band version with 58,51 and 49" elements roughly.
How it got this much fanfare is beyond anyone's guess. Much like the Harris design it favored low horizon lobes with a null overhead.
For repeaters, forget it, for terrestrial, perhaps but satellite is where the Harris worked well.
Mine is about 19 years old and works OK.
AJ4DW Rating: 2008-02-11
Not great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna to replace my Tram 1180 dual-band mobile antenna (which strikes my garage door as I enter or exit).

The mounting position is on a bracket attached at the middle of the left side of the rear hatch on a Toyota Prius (here's a picture of the bracket... not on my rig, but the same setup except just on the left: http://wa8lmf.net/mobile/prius/AntennasMountedOnPrius.htm ... here's the homepage for you Prius owners who want to make a neat antenna bracket without drilling any holes in your car: http://wa8lmf.net/mobile/prius/index.htm )

My radio is a Yaesu FT-8800R.

Assembly: No problem really... one of the radiators was a little flattened by the cutting process and had to be gently worked with emery cloth (although it could have been forced easily). The set screws really needed to be removed to seat the elements fully in their sockets, but once that was done the set screws did a nice job of securing the elements. Overall this is a nicely made antenna.

Effectiveness: In my garage I immediately noticed a loss of 2 S-units from the Tram-1180 while monitoring a QSO on my local repeater. On my way home I deliberately took a route with a lot of "holes" in it. I was unable to maintain a conversation with a buddy until I replaced the Super-M antenna with my old Tram-1180... at which point I went back to a scratchy, not-full-quieting but at-least-intelligible QSO on that same repeater.

So, bottom line, I tried it out for a full month and it did not do nearly as well for me as my Tram-1180, and on eBay the Tram costs 1/3 what the NilJon Super-M costs. If you have excellent contact with your local repeaters and need a shorter antenna, go for it... otherwise don't bother. Longer IS better... I guess I'll put up with the gentle "twang" of the Tram as I enter my garage.
CLC55PCW Rating: 2005-01-25
A+ Very Pleased Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the Nil-Jon for a year now and I travel at interstate speeds, 75 mph, 3 to 4 days a week and for up to 500 miles a day and I haven't even had to retighten any of the rods. They threaded perfect when we installed it and the signal has been above that of my old antenna. I can get 100 mile distance opposed to about 85 with the other antenna. We transmit on 450 and couldn't be happier with the results....
KE4YYD Rating: 2004-11-03
No better than others. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I connected a 2 meter 1/4 wave mag mount and the Nil-Jon mag mount to an antenna switch so I could make comparisons of signal strength recieved. I then made comparison checks while in motion and parked on a mile long bridge crossing a bay. The bridge was chosen as there is little or no multipath signals there. On 144 MHz the 1/4 wave was about 1 S unit better on repeaters approximately 40 miles away. On the WX band there was no difference. About 1 S unit improvement over the 2 meter 1/4 wave was noticed on the 460 MHz band.

During the motion tests I could detect no difference between the antennas with the "picket fence" effect.
WA2DTW Rating: 2004-06-28
Excellent 3-band antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this antenna for over a year, and mag mount it on the roof of the car. It is a gain antenna on 2M, 220 and 440. While it looks a bit strange (an inverted tripod on the roof) it is low profile. You can easily get in and out of garages without removing the antenna. It also receives quite well into the >500 mhz range. Can place it in the trunk easily if needed.
Steve WA2DTW
KF7TG Rating: 2003-12-23
Good performance, not a good value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have used the Super-M only as a receiving antenna so far and it's performance in this areas seems to be very good. Frequencies from 44Mhz to 900Mhz are received very well for an antenna this size. I purchased mine along with a Larson round mag-mount. While the mount is as I've come to expect from Larson the antenna was a different story. First off, the antenna I was sent is the newer more robust version of the Super-M. This being so, I was surprised at the wimpyness of the construction. There is very little to this antenna. It is very simply constructed and is no more than a piece of steel that is threaded with three holes drilled at a precise angles, three steel rods of differing lengths and little Allen set screws to hold the rods on. The actual cost to build these things couldn't be more than a few dollars, if that. What you are paying for is the engineering that went into designing this antenna. I feel that the Super-M could be and should be built in a more durable fashion. The base of the antenna should mate with the mount (in my case a Larson Mag mount) instead of just threading on with a gap between the base and the mount. Also the rods should be of harder steel (mine have already bent) and the setscrews should be larger as well (mine already loosened up and I almost lost one of the rods).
This isn't a BAD antenna. I believe the performance is very good for a multi-band antenna of this size. Just remember when you drop $100 or so on a Super-M and mount that you are paying for the engineering and not a quality constructed antenna.
W8CWE Rating: 2001-02-08
Absolutely Fantastick! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I changed over to this antenna because I needed something that was low-profile (to fit into the garage). This little antenna performs MUCH better than what I expected. It looks odd, but it certainly WORKS! I've used it for 2M and 70cm simplex and repeater work with NO problems at all. It also does a decent job for mobile satellite work!! I replaced a Diamond SG7900A with the Nil-Jon and I have noticed no difference in receive or transmit quality. Two thumbs up for this great product!!!!