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Reviews For: Comet Ht-224

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

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Review Summary For : Comet Ht-224
Reviews: 19MSRP: 47.00
Description:
SMA HT Tri-Band Antenna 146/223/446. 29cm long
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00193.5
W7MJR Rating: 2004-11-15
More signal, less durability Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I wish mine just developed an "obscene bend" rather than breaking off entirely. The signal improved with this antenna, but it isn't as durable as the stock antenna. My HT-224 survived about 12 months of pretty ordinary abuse.
KG6MAR Rating: 2004-03-29
Permanently bent Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've used it for maybe a year and a half, and while I haven't formally analyzed or compared it, I have no issues with performance. I seem to have a legible signal where I use it. I don't get to use 220 and 440 much, but it feels good to have them available.

After so much daily knocking around, it has developed a permanent and obscene bend at the joint between the flexible and rigid parts. I can live with the looks, but I wonder when it is going to stop working. I'm reluctant to pop for another one at this price, but eventually I probably will.
KC2GNV Rating: 2003-10-27
OK Antenna But Bad Design Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
When I got this antenna the end SMA connector came off easily. So the antenna would just pop off the radio. This is like with in the first week of owning the radio. So I was like ok it's a defective antenna. I sent it back to the dealer and they sent me a new one. I was much happier with this one. No problems with the screw SMA connector. Perhaps they put a heavier washer on it or something or maybe they just replaced it. Anyway the performance of the antenna was great nothing to much to rant about. I would say that it is better than most stock rubber ducks but the only complaint is after 3 -4 months the rubber started to come off of the spring coil part of the antenna...where it meets the metal shaft. So I tried to return it for a new one again and the dealer just patched it up with rubber insulator and sent it to me. I was not impressed with the repair job so I just sold the antenna. I used a Yaesu VX 5R and I orignally was going to get a Yaesu VX 7R which I now own.

I liked the performance of the antenna and I liked the looks of it compared to other antennas but the poor design did hold up to normal college conditions persay.
I recently have the other Comet HT antenna that does 2/220/440 that has the top load.
K7RTM Rating: 2003-06-04
POS Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Stock TH-F6A duck is better than this antenna.

Save your money..
K8JDC Rating: 2003-04-23
Worthless! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought an HT-224 to replace the stock antenna on my Yaesu VX-7R. Unfortunately, the HT-224 does not work. I can activate the local 2m repeater with the stock (8-inch) antenna with 1 watt output. With the (11.5-inch) HT-224, I could not activate the repeater even at 5 watts output. So, I went to 70cm and tried the local repeater there. Again, the stock antenna was able to activate the repeater with 1 watt. The HT-224 could not activate the repeater at 5 watts. THAT'S MORE THAN 6 DB WORSE PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO THE STOCK ANTENNA ON BOTH BANDS!!! I didn't bother trying 220 MHz. It's already packed up in the box to go back to the seller for a refund.

I thought with the high price that this would be a top-notch antenna. I was sorely disappointed.

JDC
W7CTW Rating: 2003-01-01
Excelent replacement for stock antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I use the Comet Ht-224 on my Kenwood TH-F6. I got it mainly for the 224 mghz band. It works circles around the stock antenna. It brings up repeaters the stock rubber duck doesn't even hear on 224. It appears to work the 440 mghz and 2 meter bands better than the stock rubber duck. I can recomend this antenna to any one using the TH-F6. I have bought many after market rubber duck antennas before and I have never had one that performed as well as this one.
N1RSR Rating: 2002-10-26
Good performance, construction needs a little improvement. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.


This antenna performs very well, it is an
excellent stock duck replacement. It is semi
rigid which is nice... BUT.... the big problem
is the construction. They did one of those
"captive ring" jobs. If you overtighten
the SMA even ever so slightly, the ferrule
part of the connector comes off. You can snap
it back on easy enough, but I got irritated
by this and decided to fix the problem a little
better- the bottom of the antenna is gold plated;
which guess what... takes solder quite easily...
put the bottom of the antenna in a small vise, and

run solder in the crevice between the nut and
the base of the antenna, if you do it all the way
around, being careful not to overheat the antnenna...
you'll get a fairly strong joint that
rivals the original one. Only nice thing about
the original one, is if you dropped your radio, the
connector would break gracefully instead of putting
the force of the impact on the SMA connector... but
in my case the irritation of the connector coming
off by accidental overtightening was an overwhelming
factor for me. I'm fairly gentle with my stuff and still
I managed to make the nut slide off in the first
5 minutes of use. Soldering iron makes this
a nice antenna. :) Performance is very close
to diamond RH-77CA, at least for 2M and 440, not
sure about the wideband RX, but it seemed decent
on casual testing. Makes the stock antennas on
all the SMA radios look like dummy loads in
comparison. Repeaters that couldn't be brought
up with 3W on the other antenna could be brought
up with a half a watt on the 224.
KG6JIJ Rating: 2002-01-24
Great Upgrade Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a great upgrade for the stock antenna that came on my Kenwood TH-F6 tri-band HT. The improvement is dramatic on 440, less on 220, and minimal on 2 meters. I base these comments on reception reports when I've compared the new HT-224 and the stock antenna while working repeaters in the Los Angeles area. The only negative is that the SMA connector doesn't seal down onto the top of the HT like the stock one did. But if it did it might not fit other HT units.
KR4GS Rating: 2002-01-18
RUNS CIRCLES AROUND STOCK DUCK Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hello all. When I first saw this antenna at Lentini communication I thought wow! that's an expensive antenna! Alex allowed me
to try this antenna on my Kenwood TH-F6 and I couldn't believe the difference in performance over the stock duck especially
on 224 mhz. needless to say I had to have one. When I took this home and ran more tests on it I was even more impressed. I
was able to solidly get into repeaters I couldn't even bring up with the stock duck. The construction of the antenna is solid, the
bottom is made of aluminum and the whip is made of heavy rubber. The antenna is a little over 11 inches long. Mick and
company at Comet(NCG)Company have again made a amazing improvement of the performance of my amateur HT. Thanks
guys.This antenna is a great addition for the th-f6.73' Tony kr4gs