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Reviews For: Workmen UV-325

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

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Review Summary For : Workmen UV-325
Reviews: 10MSRP: $40.00
Description:
2M / 70 CM mobile antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00102.3
KB5TAC Rating: 2013-10-14
Don't waste your money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been a ham for well over 15 years and have used quite a few mobile antennas in my time. I am partial to commercial type antennas mostly because of their durability. With that being said I popped into a local ham store the other day and found this "gem" hanging in the antenna section. I figured it was time to dive into a dual band antenna so I picked it up for right around the $20 mark.

Once I got it home I went about putting it on the wifes new Jeep. I expected to have to tune it a little but this antenna would give me nothing better than a 5:1 SWR on both bands. No matter how much cutting I did it would not tune. Finally out of frustration I removed the entire top portion above the base and put a known good element on it and tightened it down. My SWR was still 5:1. I pulled then base and put the same known good antenna back on its original base and it was good to go at 1:1.

This antenna is a poor quality item. I would not recommend it to anyone unless you are going to do what I did and scavenge it for parts.
KC9VEJ Rating: 2013-01-12
Worked Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I hooked up antenna bought at TARCfest 2013 for my Baofeng UV-5R and finally I was able to hit many repeaters reliabley. This is not a technical review just a user review. A technical review will follow when I get baqck north to test equipment. I paid $25 at the fest which appears to be a bit too much but I like the guy selling it to me and that is that.
KB1TXK Rating: 2011-08-25
They must have changed things... Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've had absolutely NO problems w/ this antenna. Straight out of the package its performed flawlessly. Have had it about a year and it shows no sign of rusting, melting, everything works exactly as it did when I first bought it.

Don't buy into the "Diamond is better" nonsense. I'd be willing to bet that the comparable Diamond antenna is actually THIS antenna w/ a new sticker. So far, thats all I've found w/ Diamond...they are rebranded antennas.
N9OPK Rating: 2010-05-10
junk coil Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Coil is shorted right out of the package. Bought at Arthur Hamfest. All contact info for Workman seems to be incorrect as none of the links or phone works.
KG6TGV Rating: 2006-07-03
Cheap at $17.95 and it works! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just put this on my NMO trunk lip mount. Works great, so far stations came in louder and I was able to get out further with less power.
I am worried about some of the reviews about the center load melting. Yikes! It's rated at 150 watts but you know how that goes.
Well so far so good. Got mine at on Ebay at Hamstop.com's store for $17.95 so I picked up two. One for the car and one for the RV.
K3SUI Rating: 2006-06-28
Don't buy junk!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna and when installing on my car, noticed the SWR on the ham bands was above 3:1. Using my antenna analyser, I found the resonant freq a few megs below the bands. I began cutting little pieces off the various junctions on the antenna to raise the frequency. I got 70cm in the ballpark, but I was unable to get 2 meters to go above 138 Mhz. Antenna heated up dramatically when excited by 50 watts. Removed the antenna and bought a Diamond. All is well now ...
WX4MET Rating: 2005-04-07
The coil casing melted! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I bought this antenna new, and was very pleased. Recieve was great, as I was hearing repeaters while mobile from much farther away, even compared to a 5/8 wave. One night on a camping trip I was talking to a friend on simplex with 60 watts, which I thought was no big deal, since the antenna is supposed to handle 150 watts. I stepped outside the next morning and looked up at the antenna to find that the plastic surrounding the coil had melted, and from the coil up on the antenna was now leaning at a 25° angle! I was now able to pull the top half of the antenna out, and the coil could easily fall right out. I have since super glued the top element to the coil, and bent the element back so that it was vertical. The recieve is still just as good as before, and the SWR is generally pretty good. However, talking on it for extended periods with just five to ten watts, on either VHF or UHF, heats the coil up making it warm to the touch. I certainly won't be getting another workman antenna.
KD5ABP Rating: 2004-12-16
mine never rusted Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought one when I bought my first mobile (Kenwood V7A) and never looked back.. I am just now moving to a new vehicle, and looking for a new mount, but will stick with this same antenna (the original I bought, not a new one.) I just looked, because the first two reviews here had me worried.. and I see no signs of rust at all.

Still, 2 out of 3 isn't a very good ratio. Just didn't want this antenna to get 100% bad reviews. I like mine. :)

73, KD5ABP
WB3BKN Rating: 2004-07-05
rusted quickly Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The antenna worked well at first but reception really went bad within the first few months. I thought at first there was something broken but found the rust to be the problem. The VSWR went way up because of the rust.

The moral of the story seems to be "Buy a better antenna to begin with".
KI4CXZ Rating: 2004-04-27
performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Picked up this antenna at a hamfest in Jan04. When first used SWR was real low. Mid-April noticed unable to access some repeater. Check the SWR on 2M and it is now an SWR of 5:1. Antenna started showing signs of rust and set screws really rusted. SWR is about 1.8:1 on 70CM. Worked excellent when new, but short life cycle. I suggest spending the little extra and get a MFJ,Comet, Diamond,...ETC.