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Reviews For: Arrow OSJ Model J146/440

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

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Review Summary For : Arrow OSJ Model J146/440
Reviews: 168MSRP: 39.95
Description:
Dual-band aluminum j-pole
Wtih better quality SO239 - 3/8-24 Connector. Better Threads and a more precise hole size for the PL259 connection. As of 4-10-05 All OSJ's will have the new connector.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.arrowantennas.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001684.6
KB1QYH Rating: 2022-08-06
One of the Finest Dual-band VHF/UHF Base antennas money can buy! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I must own half a dozen of these. They are a fantastic, well-built, and sturdy antenna. My first 1 is over 13 years old, and no problems! You'd think the nylon washer would go bad or SOMETHING after that long a time, but no- nothing- it keeps on ticking- SWR flat on 2m, and a bit higher on 70cm- (1.3:1) Those having SWR problems on 70cm would do good to get a high quality length of coax- (IE- Times Microwave LMR-400, Andrew-Commscope 1/2" or 7/8" Heliax!) and check, double check, and triple check that it is away from any metal objects. No problems with ANY of my Arrow OSJ antennas, and one of them has even been through a hurricane! It came out alive, and good as new!

NA5XX Rating: 2021-03-07
Don't Hesitate Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Update. I had a chance to put my antenna analyzer on the antenna. At 146.52 I had an SWR of 1.4 which I consider acceptable. At 444.40, a local repeater frequency, it was 4.9 SWR I guess it's a VHF antenna only.
N8AUC Rating: 2021-01-31
Built like a tank...works great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had one of these up on a mast for over 5 years. This is the beefiest construction I've ever seen on an antenna that wasn't built for commercial repeater applications. No clue what the gain figure is, but I can easily do 25 miles on simplex, and it's only about 20' off the ground. SWR is good on both bands, and I'm feeding it with LMR-400. It enables me to hit just about any repeater I can hear. The darn thing will probably outlive me, with it's solid aluminum elements (not tubing). I'm very happy with this antenna, and would recommend it without reservation.
M7NDY Rating: 2020-07-15
Unusable on 70cm Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought this to use on VHF/UHF as I needed something as a beginner. Came highly recommended on here, and the competitor (Diamond X-50) was out of stock everywhere.

So I bought this and installed it, but it always had a high SWR (4:1) on 70cm. Was fine on 2m, but really bad on 70cm.

Tried a number of things, including changing coax cable length, testing SWR at the feed point, and fitting some chokes. Nothing!

Ended up buying a Diamond X-50 and it worked straight out the box!

Arrow Antenna say that it might not work on 70cm because of "poor coax". I am using Ultraflex 7, some of the best cable available, and it does not work.

Appears to be a common problem with 70cm, so don't buy this if you ever want to Tx on 70cm!
W8IJN Rating: 2019-04-26
Works great (I have two of 'em) Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I like Arrow Antenna products. They're sturdy. They're inexpensive. You can get parts. They work.
. . . That said, this is the OSJ J146/440second dual band Jpole antenna that I have bought & installed. One is outside on a 30ft pole in the back yard. It's about six or maybe eight years in service, most of that outside. It works great on 2m and on 70cm. I can hit all the local and a few distant (50 miles) repeaters. I can hear people in cars some 20 miles away.
. . . The second one, just installed recently, is stuck on a chunk of aluminum stub screwed to a cross beam in the attic of my 2 storey house. That puts it about 25 ft in the air under the wood & shingles of the roof. It gets out and hears just about as well as the one on the pole.
. . . Both antennas worked low SWR out of the box on both band ranges. The UHF end is a bit more flat than the VHF and the one outside is a bit lower on 2m SWR than the insider. But the insider is low enough for me (1:1.6).
. . . Now you may ask why I have one inside when I already have one outside. Simple: Weather gets bad, that outsider is gonna take the first hit. (Same as the nearby 30ft tower.) I figure the one inside is less likely to get blammoed. I may be dreaming or delusional or have joined a sci-fi cult, but that's my logic.
. . . I have two very nice, solidly built 2 band VHF/UHF antennas and I'm happy with 'em both. Which is not delusional.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W8IJN on 2002-11-22

I've had this antenna up & in use for about a month now. It didn't put a dent in my wallet & it was a lot less hassle then me building one for myself. I spent more time finding a place in the attic to mount it than I did puttin' it together.

I appreciate deeply the craftsmanship in the design. Good solid materials, clean machine work & very robust construction. I was so impressed with the quality of the work that I just ordered their 2m yagi.

Nice thing is, it made my brand-new IC-706Mk2G much happier than the junk I'd stapled to the attic rafters. If you're lookin' for an omni-directional for 2m & 70cm, the OSJ J146/440 is the best, easiest & most sturdy way to go.

KA0USE Rating: 2018-05-25
very nice antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
what do you write about something that has no moving parts?
aesthetically pleasing. ( well, it's a start! )
i have had mine for ~10 years with no problems.
i have had to replace the cable a few times due to weather.
mounted to a bathroom vent pipe on the roof.
a relative has 3 of them. we should buy stock in the company. 2 of them were used, from hamfests. he may try to phase them; i don't know... at any rate he's had the used ones longest and got his new one about the same time i did.
there is no tuning out of the box. only takes a few minutes to assemble. great, very easy project for you and kids. wear some eye protection- it's easy to poke yourself in the eye with the middle length element.
the elements are solid, not hollow.
if you want to put a tuner on it, ok, but really not needed. i used an antenna analyser to check the 2m band and got low readings across the band, measured at the feedpoint. the analyser (mfj 259c) doesn't cover 440, but my yeasu 817 has a rudimentary one built-in and the number of bars showing across the 440 band are 0 to 1 (4 bars being the highest swr, presumably >3:1). i'm comfortable with that.
you can buy these in packs of 10 for radio club projects, etc. there is a price break.

on my shopping list is an arrow low earth orbit duplex portable satellite antenna (model 146/437-10).
N0AVR Rating: 2018-02-26
Works great. Excellent quality. Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Mine is on a fiberglass pole attached to my chimney (about 30ft.) It works great. I hit repeaters 40 miles away. VHF and UHF are equally good. Quality of materials and workmanship are first rate. Also a great value for the price.
K0WFS Rating: 2017-06-14
Best built antenna ever! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have probably put together 50 antennas over the last 40 years, most for other hams, but I can honestly say this one is the best ones ever made in terms of mechanical quality.

The RF performance is also excellent. It seems to have a relatively low take-off angle, and it perfect for local ops on a few watts, or regional simplex on higher power.

Tim the owner is very responsive via email and I cannot imagine any better support for a modestly priced antenna like the OSJ.
KB1GMX Rating: 2017-05-19
one tough antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have two. Both over a decade old.

One is on the top of 35 ft tower and mast and has never failed me. if the SWR ever rizes I'll assume the coax has given up first.

The other is Emcom/FD kit and has been used and tossed around. Nothing hurts it.

Both antennas have SWR in the FM repeater range for both VHF and UHF that is under 1.7:1 at the band edges with a short low loss cable (10ft 9913).

I have several other antennas made by Arrow Antenna, good products then and now and stellar service.


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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB1GMX on 2014-12-20

This is the rare 5. For over 10 years its been in the New England weather, ice, snow, rain, high winds, hurricanes and its still working 100%.

Its located on my tilting tower so every years I get to inspect it. Every years it gets left as is as its just fine visually and by SWR check.

I have a second one that is for emcom and portable work.

Its not a gain antenna nor was that an expectation. My expectation was and has proven
to be its rugged and can withstand abuse.

I recommend it for those around me needing a simple and solid 2/440 antenna.


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Earlier 5-star review posted by KB1GMX on 2005-09-05

I have two, the newest is several years old. I use them for the house here and for SETs and Field Day remote activities. The house mounted one is now 4 years old and the roving one is 2+ years old. The base antenna on UHF I've worked simplex to 30 miles with 1.5W on and repeaters to 50miles
and similar range with same power on VHF. FYI,
cables used it 40ft of Buryflex(minimal loss at UHF).


The antenna cannot be beat for being rugged.
While the gain is typical of most Jpoles the durability and eas of mouniting is hard to beat.
For the price I recommend it as a good first antenna.

Two things I've drilled others on about this and other dual banders. Mount it high and CLEAR of any metal stuff. The other is use good cable.
I will expand on the latter. Any common cable
will have far greater loss at UHF. This makes
a antenna that should look equally good at UHF
look poor when compared to VHF. The cable is
part of the total system and it's a shame to give up as much as two thirds of your transmit power and equally as much recieve power. This antenna has some gain but typical cables used for VHF and uhf stack up like this for a 100ft length:

Unacceptable for UHF and passable for short
(less than 15ft) at VHF.
RG58 -4.9@100 -12@400

Acceptable for VHF, ok for very short runs at UHF
(under 30ft).
RG8x -3.7@100 -8@400
RG8/A -2db@100 -4.7db@400
RG213 -2DB@100 -5db@400

Typical for high quality low loss cables for UHF
LMR400/9914/Buryflex -1.3@100 -2.8@400

For those not used to using DB measurments.

-3db means loosing 50% the power or signal.
-4db means 40% the signal is lost
-5db means 66% of the power is lost
-6DB means 25% makes it.
-8db means 84% never got there.
-10db means 90% power loss.
-12db means 95% the power is lost to heating
the cable.

So for an antenna that has maybe 2.4DB over dipole
it's easy to see at VHF you give up little to the typical 50ft cable. At UHF you not only give up the gain you loose half again or more. I've demonstrated this in the field with an OSJ using both 30ft of RG8x and 30FT of buryflex. Why demonstate this? Someone asked why thick (.4")
cables was being used for a field antenna. They then understood why I could both hear well on simplex and transmit decently far with very low power.

To repeat if it were only transmitter power lost that may be acceptable but, on recive the losses are equally as great.

This would explain why a bumpermount worked
better in the driveway also.


Allison
KB1GMX
N8NN Rating: 2017-05-18
Poor Quality Control Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
One 3/8" hole was not threaded. I had to drill and file the hole to mount the element. The manufacturing process needs better quality control. I am not able to measure the SWR. It works.