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Reviews For: Diamond SRH519 HT Antenna

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

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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
KC8VWM Rating: 2003-04-16
Excellent Mini HT Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
With so many of the newer and smaller HT's out there now capable of recieving multiple band frequencies, it is more difficult to find compact antennas that do this job well.

I own an Icom IC T90A and the recieve coverage is from .5mhz to 1 GHZ.

I compared this antenna to my Diamond RH 77CA, which is an excellent wide band recieving antenna.

I found very little comparison using 500 mw to hit local repeaters on 2 meters. On the 440 band, performance was slightly less, but still, it did better than the stock antenna.

This antenna does not transmit on 6M. A bit of a compromize, but I feel that 6M in most cases requires a much larger antenna for any kind of performance than any "duck" can provide anyways.

I mostly use 2M and it definetly outperformed the stock antenna on 2M band.

Dont let the size fool you, it performed very close to the Diamond RH77CA antenna on 2M !

It also recieves Shortwave radio frequencies better than the stock antenna, but not as well as the RH77CA in this case. I suspect that this is because the RH77CA is slighly longer and the wider antenna may be more broad banded on lower frequencies.

However, it is noteworthy to reiterate that on shortwave, it is much better than the stock antenna. I used it to recieve the BBC on 5.975mhz and tried RCI on 13 and 17 mhz with good results.

RH77CA BBC on 5.975mhz 10 over S-units
Stock Antenna BBC on 5.975mhz 3 - 5 S-units
SRH519 BBC on 5.975mhz 5 - 8 S-units

Of course, it's not as good as using a longwire, but it is definetly more portable.

This antenna is the perfect marriage for todays smaller wideband HT's like the Yeasu VX7R or the Icom T90A

It doesn't "dwarf" the radio and you dont have to worry about the antenna tickling you under the armpits like the RH77CA when the radio is on your beltclip.

The SRH519 is very porportinal to the radio in size, and I would describe it's performance similar to the RH77CA on VHF.

If you are looking to replace a stock HT antenna, and are looking for performance yet, unobtrusive size - This is it!

73's
Charles Bushell
KC8VWM
KE4MEV Rating: 2003-02-15
Bad choice! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My experience was identical to that reported by KB9YUR. I bought this expensive antenna for my VX-150, advertised as 3db gain over the stock antenna, and the radio's broadcast range and S-meter receive went WAY DOWN from the stock antenna. At first I thought that the antenna contact was not fully contacting the sma connecter, but it was. Holding the radio in the same location, both the stock antenna and my other replacement showed significant improvement on the signal. I am not bashing Diamond. I own both an RH205 on a BNC/SMA adapter and a base station X-50. I would not trade either of them
KG4AUQ Rating: 2003-01-14
Realistic expectations Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm very happy with this little antenna. Together with my VX5 I'm able to hit any local repeater and have picked up an ave of 2 s-units on receive.
Small, unobtrusive, and just what I was looking for.
KG4UPX Rating: 2002-09-08
A good antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna the other day for use primarily with my G71A, and I'm pleased with the results.

It added about 3 clicks to the S meter which helped in receiving signals that were previously weak. I was also able to get a great tone on a repeater with 500mw when I couldn't hit it with the standard duck supplied with the rig at the same power level.

Also, I was pleased to find that even though the antenna is very thin, it did not "wag" back and forth that much when I used it outsided with a good head wind blowing.

All in all, I would recommend this antenna for anyone who wants to get more out of their rig. It is pretty sturdy, and it does good job!

73s,
Pete
KC7RJJ Rating: 2002-08-28
Great antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
No complaints added S2 to my handy
works great and I bought both the
RH 519 and the Srh 519 great pair
AB0RE Rating: 2002-05-03
Works great for me Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
In comparing this to the stock duck on my TH-G71A, the SRH-519 works much better. The "S-meter" on my HT goes up between 2 and 4 units when switching from the stock duck to the SRH-519. My only gripe is that I wish it were just a bit stiffer.
KC0HBM Rating: 2002-05-02
Good value Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this as a replacement for my VX5's stock antenna. Most people I know that actually walk around with the VX5 clipped to their side develop a permanent bend in the stock antenna. This isn't a problem with the Diamond.

As for my non-calibrated field tests (kerchunking repeaters and getting signal reports), the Diamond works slightly better than the stock. I didn't buy it for higher gain, rather I like the size and flexibility. I didn't want to have to get one of those "stubby" antennas and sacrifice performance either. I find the SRH519 to be a good value.

For VX5 users: the Diamond does not have the "extra" plastic at the base of the SMA connector like the stock antenna. This means you will have a gap between the radio and the base of the ant, I found that an o-ring washer makes a good dust/moisture resistant spacer.

I would buy this antenna again.
N1RSR Rating: 2002-05-02
Antenna is decent stock replacment.... Time Owned: more than 12 months.

All I can say is the other reviewer mustve had
a dud antenna. The one I got works noticeably better on my Kenwood G71 HT, compared to the
stock antenna.

The only fault I can think of with this thing
is durability, if you drop the radio and it
lands on the antenna, it wont break the antenna
but it will bend it out of shape; its not wonderfully resilient like a regular duck is;
if it was thicker this problem would be a non issue.

KB9YUR Rating: 2001-09-12
Not worth the price. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This particular model was bought to replace the stock rubber duckie used on
the Yaesu (Vertex) VX-150 2m HT. Price is about $30. The antenna is made in
Japan and is rated at 10 watts for the 144/430 bands. Overall length is 8.3 inches
and it has a SMA connector. With the stock antenna, making contact with my local
repeater (WAFAR, Chicago, 146.670) was not a problem, not even from down in
the basemant. With the SRH519, I COULD NOT make any contacts with the
same repeater. In fact, the difference in signal went from an S7 to hardly any
signal at all. I then tried the antenna outside in an open field and was finally able
to make contact (though still very weak signal from a local repeater).
Trying to make contact with other local repeaters and even simplex resulted in
no contact at all. The performance is simply not there (unless you're operating
within a few blocks of the repeater) and it's not worth the moeny. Better look
elsewhere.
George ...