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Reviews For: Comet SMA-24J HT antenna

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

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Review Summary For : Comet SMA-24J HT antenna
Reviews: 58MSRP: 19.95
Description:
flexible whip HT antenna for 2m/440
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00584.3
N8EKT Rating: 2009-01-05
Decent antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the BNC version after finding myself on vacation in Tennesee with only the stock duck for my Standard HT.
Picked it up at TEN-TEC in Sevierville for $22
It seemed to work fairly well compared to the stock duck so it served the purpose.
After returning home, I was able to compare it with my 8.5 inch Maldol AS-20 dual bander.
I found that 2 meter and 70cm performance was only slightly better than the much smaller AS-20.
Overall, for it's cumbersome 17 inch length, the Comet 24 didn't impress me much.
K4PDM Rating: 2008-03-27
Performs great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Works great. Super gain over the stock VX2R antenna. No problems with a year of use.

It is probably a little overpriced for what it is, but so are all Comet/Diamond products.
KB1PQA Rating: 2008-03-26
Flimsy and useless Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I noticed no improvement with this over the VX-7R's stock duck. It made out-of-band RX almost nonexistent, and didn't improve in-band RX or TX at all.

The physical flexibility was nice, except that it just recently snapped off at the top of the base, after 2-3 months of use. Overall, this thing is a huge waste of money.
N3YZ Rating: 2007-10-21
Excellent value Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Used with VX-2R and TH-F6A. Flexible, light, good gain (important to VX-2), relatively inexpensive. In length and performance, is on par with my Diamond SRH320A... Excellent HT antenna.
AA4OO Rating: 2007-04-16
not resonant at 440 barely ar 2m Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had two of these antennas. When I received the first one I noticed that my HT got very warm when talking on 440 repeaters. I took it to work and put it on our antenna analyzer and found that it was not resonant in the 440 band (however it does have a nice node in the aircraft band. It's 2m performance was also sub-par. It is resonant in 2m at 150Mhz but shows a SWR of 1:2+ down around 145Mhz.

I called the distributer and they asked me to send it back. They sent me another antenna but it has the same characteristics.

This was the SMA mount version. The BNC version may resonate correctly. YMMV
W5BP Rating: 2006-08-28
Pretty Good Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have used this antenna on my Yaesu VX-5 HT for about 3-4 weeks. It is a little better than the stock antenna. It seems like it could break fairly easy if handled rough but hasn't so far as I have handled it gently. The constant whipping action is also a little annoying. I can hit all of my 2m repeaters within about 30 miles or so. It is a pretty good performer but I guess I was just expecting more.
I just ordered the Diamond SRH77CA and will compare them when I get it in. I have read some pretty good reviews about it as a ham and scanner antenna.
Actually the Diamond was my first choice but no one had it in stock at the time so I ordered the SMA-24.
Overall a pretty good HT antenna but in my opinion must be handled carefully so not to damage it.

-73
-Bill
KG6UTS Rating: 2006-01-27
Good after market antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I just bought a second one for my THG71. The first lasted about 2 years and only failed due to rough physical treatment. I soldered 2mtr and 70cm 'radials' to a solder lug and place the lug under the SMA connector so the antenna has something to operate against. Its been a good antenna on desert hikes and genaral use...a winner all around.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by KG6UTS on 2005-02-09

I bought the SMA-24 for use with a Kenwood TH-G71 HT. I'm very happy with it! With low power on the G71 I can operate on the Mt. Palomar repeater that is about 50 miles away LOS as well as Monument Peak at about the same distance.

EdZ
San Diego
N4SJW Rating: 2005-09-23
A dummy load Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Not sure why I'm having inferior results to several others posting here but on my FT-60 and F6A, the stock antennas are superior in side by side tests of local weak signal repeaters. This thing is so thin is just whips around. Don't see any reason to use this aftermarket antenna.
W8VKD Rating: 2005-08-22
2 thumbs up!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased a VX2-R and found the stock antenna to be totally useless for receiving outside of ham band use. After reading reviews here and other places I bought this antenna. I have no regrets, it is a solid performer and made a BIG, BIG difference in reception (and transmitting)on my VX2-R. The price is right too. I paid $23.00 for mine from COMDAC. Try it..you'll like it.
AE6QG Rating: 2005-08-22
Good antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just got this antenna as a replacement for the stock duck on my VX-150. Works good. Although I don't notice too much difference in receive between it and the rubber duck on a distant (S1-3 reception strength) repeater, it does exceed the duck on transmit. I've even used it for uplink on FM satellites (while using an Arrow II for downlink) so I can hear my own voice better on the downlink and avoid desensing on the Arrow.

Like others, I've used some heat-shrink tubing to dampen the motion of the antenna. Used just three pieces of 6" long tubing from Radio Shack, it did the trick.