Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Diamond SRH519 HT Antenna

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Diamond SRH519 HT Antenna
Reviews: 29MSRP: $30
Description:
144/430 Mhz HT antenna with SMA connector
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rfparts.com/diamond/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00294.1
N2MCS Rating: 2008-09-23
Good performance, design not as good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This HT antenna is very good on performance. Definitely better than any stock duck.

However, I agree with the poster regarding the center pin... be sure that the antenna mates correctly, or you may be transmitting into an open.

Also, it is EXTREMELY easy to permanently damage the antenna if it is bent sharply. This happened to me. The antenna's design is awkward with the inflexible plastic base.

For light duty though, this antenna is good.
KI4LFA Rating: 2008-09-02
Great Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I upgraded from my stock antenna to this one. This one is small, lightweight, flexible and really powerful for its size. I bought it from RES today and can hit a repeater in downtown Orlando, FL from 12 miles away(UCF) at 5 Watts from inside a solid concert block building (1st Floor). Works great with my Kenwood TH-F6A. Little static and very clear.
Wide reciving range too, for scanning the police, fire, airports, and trains.

Only worry is the fact of too much flex, will it start sagging or getting bent? Time will tell...
N3IDG Rating: 2008-07-19
gr8 Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
got this antenna after a disater with diamonds srh805s antenna .use this with my icom ic-q7a it hears better than the stock antenna ,but not as well as a 18 inch duckie but due to its conveince it has a permanent home on the radio will be buying a second one for my alinco wide band receiver
KX7ID Rating: 2007-11-03
A GREAT HT replacement antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was very disappointed with the performance of my ICOM P7A on VHF until I purchased the Diamond SRH519 to replace the stock rubber antenna. Dramatic improvement on VHF and improvement on UHF too!

For the P7A it is a must.

73,
KX7ID
HB9LEK Rating: 2007-10-22
better than the original vx-5 rubber antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Owning a vx-5 for quite a while, I was not aware that putting a SRH519 instead of the furnished rubber duckie would increase the range of repeaters I can work that much. Slight increase on 2m on receiving and transmitting but big increase on 70cm: If I can hear a repeater, I can now work it. So the SRH519 is now my new standard antenna since the size is identical to the original and it's more flexible thus easier to carry on a belt, in a pocket or in a bag
OZ0FT Rating: 2007-07-23
Light - in more than one way! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was noticing my VX-6 was pulling the voltage less down (drawing less current) on the battery pack when using the supplied rubber duck, than when connected to my cars dual band antenna with good SWR on both 2m and 70cm. I suspected the reason was poor SWR. The protection circuit simply lowered the output power explaining the lesser voltage drop/current draw. If you have a VX-6, try and watch the DC voltage in menu 16 during transmit on both 2m and 70cm. At high power my reasonably new battery pack drops about 0.6V on 2m and 0.8V on 70cm when transmitting into a proper load.

So I purchased a Diamond SRH519 antenna to see if it held other advantages than its light weight. It is similar in length to the VX antenna, but much much lighter and slimmer at 8 grams, versus the VX at 35 grams, as measured on my digital kitchen scale.

To measure SWR I used an Alan KW520 dual sensor SWR meter, using the 140-525MHz sensor and an angular PL with a PL-SMA adapter.

I tested both with the SWR meter free standing and holding it in my hand, to simulate holding a handheld. SWR was, as expected, always better when holding the meter – the closer to the antenna base, the better.

Yeasu VX standard, 19 cm long, best SWR:
145MHz SWR 1:1.8
435MHz SWR 1:>3.0 (Come on Yaesu!)

Diamond SRH519, 20 cm long, best SWR:
145MHz SWR 1:1.2
435MHz SWR 1:1.0

And for fun:

“Scanner antenna”, 36cm long, best SWR:
145MHz SWR 1:2.4
435MHz SWR 1:1.8

As you can see, the SRH519 is by far the easiest load on the finals, both bands, and thus it delivers more radiated power. This has been verified, particularly on 70cm, accessing repeaters that could not be accessed with the VX antenna. A/B test qso’s on 70cm showed the signal from the VX antenna at high power, was comparable to the signal from the SRH519 at the lowest power setting (4W/0.5W = 9dB!). On 2m the difference between the two antennas is not really noticeable (similar size and just slightly better SWR), but I sure like the fact that my finals work into a proper load with the SRH519 on both bands.

So what you get with the SRH519 is much improved transmit range on 70cm plus a much lighter load both on your finals and on your rig. The latter, with the VX-6, is desirable, as the rig is prone to tumble over when placed on a tabletop with the heavy VX antenna. On receive it doesn’t make much difference on 70cm and 2m, apparently the input circuit on the VX-6 accepts a wide impedance range.

What you loose is probably only the ruggedness of the VX antenna. The SRH519 certainly seems more fragile, but time will tell if this is a problem. If so, Diamond makes an electrically equivalent antenna that is heavier and probably tougher, the SRH-701.

Vy 73 de OZ0FT - Frank
YC3EBW Rating: 2006-03-31
good on both bands Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
On 2 meter & 70 cm band, this antenna really enhanced both transmitting & receiving compared to stock antenna on my vx-7r and vx-5r. On receving the signal increase at least about two units on each HT signal strength scales. On transmitting I got a better report for about 2 signal scale units on 2 meter band(simplex operation on base radio type trnscvr)& better audio quality(less noise)heard when hitting 10 miles repeater from the same location. It was actually better than my sma-503 that has about the same lenght( I wrote my review for comet also). it also looks great on vx-7r/vx-5r
KB3BWF Rating: 2005-04-30
Good Deal Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the antenna for my VX-5 and it works much better then the stocker. I have been told my signal is strong and clean from lots of fellow hams. Receiving is fantastic also. I use it in NYC and hit over 40 repeaters in the area without any problems. I used a small rubber "o" ring for the small gap problem. Aside from that I would buy another one in a second.
K7IHC Rating: 2003-11-24
Works well Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I replaced the stock antenna on my TH-G71A with this one. The performance on 2m is at least the same, and the 440 MHz performance seems to be a bit better than stock. The only thing I didn't like was the way the whip could be easily bent at the top of the hard plastic base section. Several concentric small sections of heat-shrink tubing in that area make a nice strain relief. Now the whip doesn't stay bent at the base after wearing the radio on the belt.
KC3PO Rating: 2003-05-29
Nice improvement over OEM duckie Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna in hopes that it'd be an improvement over the OEM duckie on my VX-7R. It unquestionably is -- on both 2m and 70cm. With the OEM duckie, I had trouble getting into a particular 2m repeater from inside my office building. I can now work that repeater easily (full quieting in many cases, depending on my location within the building). I've seen similar improvements on 70cm. I recommend it. Seeing the other negative comments here, I can only suspect that some of the folks are getting bum antennas. Maybe Diamond is having QA problems with this model or something, I don't know. But I'm here to say that if you get your hands on a good one, it rocks. :o)