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Reviews For: Nagoya NA-24J HT Antenna

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

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Review Summary For : Nagoya NA-24J HT Antenna
Reviews: 1MSRP:
Description:
Nagoya NA-24J HT antenna
Product is in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0013
N9ABC Rating: 2020-07-03
Nagoya NA24J vs. Comet SMA24J Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Nagoya NA24J vs. Comet SMA24J

OK, I, like many of you, am always on the hunt for an antenna that performs better than the stock antennas that came with my Chinese manufactured dual band (2 meter/70 cm) HT.

I have a Yaesu FT-4XR that came with what I find is a decent stock antenna. I wanted to see if I could find an HT antenna with a SMA Female Connector that would perform better, but was small enough not be a nuisance to carry and flexible to minimize the strain on the radios SMA connector. I own and am pleased with the performance of the Comet's SMA-24 antenna and for my Yaesu FT-60.

When I went to purchase their SMA-24J version that has a SMA Female connector that fits many Chinese made HT's I also found another antenna, the Nagoya NA-24J that looked similar. Having never owned a Nagoya antenna I thought I would give it a try. It cost $19.98. I also bought a Comet SMA-24J antenna which $24.95.

No scientific instruments were used to test these antennas, but rather I performed what I consider a real-world test. To test the performance of the stock antenna, against the Nagoya NA24J and the Comet SMA24J I used my Chinese manufactured Yaesu FT-4XR. I selected seven ham repeaters in the area. The HT was held in the identical position and location for each of the antennas. I rated their performance on a pass/fail basis by my ability to activate each repeater when announcing my call sign accompanied by the word "Testing". I also determined the lowest transmit power setting that was needed to activate each repeater.

For the farthest VHF repeater, none of the antennas were successful. For two of the VHF repeaters all three antennas were successful using low power. For one of the VHF repeaters none of the antennas worked on lower power but all three were successful on medium power. For the final repeater, I only tested the lower and high power settings (no medium) and none were successful when using lower power and all three were successful at high power. On the first UHF repeater, when using I needed to use medium power for the stock antenna to activate the repeater while both the Nagoya and Comet were successful using low power. On the second UHF repeater I had to use the medium power setting for the Nagoya and Comet to trigger the repeater, while it took the high-power setting for the stock antenna to do so.

Differences & similarities that I noticed: The base of the Nagoya antenna is slightly over 1.375" long with a radiator measuring about 14.5" above the base. Its overall length is about 16". The Comet's base is slightly smaller at about 1.25" with a roughly 14" radiator above the base, giving it an overall length of about 15.25". The diameter and flexibility of both of the antenna's radiators felt similar. I did note that the bottom of the Nagoya base did have a little of what I call "flash" being a slight amount of excess plastic material. This did not appear detract from the antenna's appearance nor its functionality., and I do not know if this was an isolated condition or appears on other antennas also.

The packaging for both antennas also looked very similar. Information on the packages showed that both were 50 ohms and can handle 20 watts. The most I used during my test was about 5 watts so I am unable to comment about whether the antennas could handle 20 watts. The Nagoya packaging stated it was made in Taiwan It lists that on 2 meters it is a ΒΌ wave and a 5/8 wave antenna on 70 cm. The Comet packaging stated it was made in Japan and lists the antenna performance as 2.15dbi for 2 meters and 3.4 dbi in 70 cm. Which performed better, I guess there was no clear winner. I think that the Comet and Nagoya were very similar in performance and both outperformed the stock antenna. However, if I had to pick only one, I would choose the Comet. I like the Comet's smaller base better than the slightly larger base of the Nagoya antenna. Also, I liked the fact that the base of the Comet antenna was solid black while the Nagoya Antenna had their name and model number of the antenna printed on the antenna's base. Lastly, I light the fact that the Comet antenna was very slightly shorter than the Nagoya, which personally I think may very slightly reduce the chance it would snag on something.

Note: After I wrote this review, I found a problem with the Nagoya antenna and wound up returning it for a credit. The discovery of the problem did not change my opinions and observations expressed above.

Perhaps additional testing using actual conversations to get readability comments might show a performance difference. Please understand that thoughts, comments and opinions in this review are my own and I have not been compensated by any of the manufacturers or retailers for this review, nor do I have any ownership interest in any of those companies.