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Reviews For: Tram 1481

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

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Review Summary For : Tram 1481
Reviews: 43MSRP: 150
Description:
Dual band base antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.k1cra.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
10433.7
W8DEC Rating: 2008-11-13
Nice Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I purchased the Tram 1481 at Dayton 2005. I've never had a problem with it. I run Belden 9913 with Amphenol 831SP PL-259's. I practically can reach any repeater I want.

A nice antenna with a nice signal.
N1RIK Rating: 2008-04-06
Good Performer for the Price Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have only had this antenna up for a month at this point. It's mounted about 35 feet above the ground on my friends house hooked to my 2m and 440 repeaters. I replaced my Hustler G7 with this antenna so I could move my 440 repeater to the same location with my 2m repeater. It's working quite well so far with a Comet CF-4160J mobile duplexer (diplexer) hooked up inline to interface the two repeaters. I have noticed the wind can make it sway a bit, however the advantage of having my antenna only 35 feet above the ground is that the winds aren't too bad. The performance on 2 meters is the same as my Hustler G7.

I was running my Tram 1480 vertical on my 440 repeater at the old site. That antenna will soon be utilized as a remote receiver for my 2 meter repeater. Like the 1480, I wrapped the joints of my Tram 1481 with silicone self-fusing wrap and put lots of silicone on the antenna to make sure it could be as water tight as possible.

For $95 plus shipping, this was an excellent deal.

I would of given this antenna a 5 instead of a 4, however I have an issue with the antenna mount.

The rings that go onto the aluminum sheeth were too big, and would wiggle after I tighted them with the locking screws. This could create duplex noise, and cause the antenna mount to fail. I had to modify the mount using electrical tape to give the sheeth some more width, while still makign provisions to give a good ground contact. The mount on my Tram 1480 antenna is fine, and has been up for about 1-1/2 years. Not sure what the deal was with this particular mount.

In conclusion, I would recommend this antenna for repeater operation, and regular FM work. Just make sure you "beef" the antenna up.

Hear it on the air!!

Southern Pines, NC - 145.370 -/offset PL 179.9 hz
Southern Pines, NC - 442.250 +/offset PL 179.9 hz

73 ~ Bill, N1RIK
G1LPR Rating: 2007-04-02
Does more than it says Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I needed a semi innocent dual band, and this fitted both my pocket and my needs, What i didnt know was how versatile it was, Ok i know the NOAA sats are only a few Mhz away but the results took me by suprise !
I only tried it for fun and i know my 817-nd does not really have the fm deviation needed, even the fact that its only about 12Ft from the floor and partly hidden by the house wall did not seem to upset the noaa pics too much either.

Oh and it survived an ice storm and some pretty nasty winds even though i didnt expect that either !
KD8DEY Rating: 2007-03-17
Great Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Was looking for a good dual band antenna. after looking at the other manufacturers models with the same gain ratings here on eham, I came across the tram. Turns out this was the only one that I found that didnt have a bunch of minor problems or "pet peeves" scattered throughout the reviews. Assembly was simple. Nicely built, and was able to get it at a great price (appx 112.00 buy it now including shipping) delivered through an antenna dealer on E-Bay. works great even if I did use a little 11-m technology during assembly. (didnt have any silicone to seal the antenna joints so I wrapped them with electrical tape Hi Hi) Pretty tall antenna
KD7WPQ Rating: 2006-11-01
This thing makes the trip Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I don't have a mobile unit or a base station, just a THF6A handheld but on just 4 watts of power and sometimes just 2, this thing makes the trip from my home town to some very busy repeaters in the next state over.

Granted the repeaters are on mountains this thing still makes a good trip loud and clear. 50 to 75 miles. (Keep in mind we have mountains here, not hills like those down south, real mountains, IE the rockies!)
KD8BFB Rating: 2006-10-31
In-freakin-credible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna to replace a homebrew 2 meter antenna, and I am just amazed at the difference. I have the antenna 35 feet in the air, and on low power, I am hitting repeaters 75+ miles away. With my TH-F6A on it at 50mw, I am full-quieting into a repeater 20+ miles away.
I read one of the other posts that it is hard to put together. I didn't have a bit of trouble.
Also, the SWR is pretty flat. My SWR goes from a 1:1 to a 1.2:1. I think that the 1.2 is at the low side of 2 meters. I would recommend this antenna very very highly!
W5GNB Rating: 2006-02-26
Very nice antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This antenna is being used on a repeater site in WINDY New Mexico. We are feeding both a 440 and 2-meter repeater into it. WORKS GREAT. The SWR is FLAT and we have no duplexer problems at all.

The only problem we have found is by mounting the antenna on top of the tower where the upper portion is not supported, the wind will tend to lean the antenna back, this will reduce the fringe area range of the antenna for the duration of the wind blowing.

Problem was fixed by side mounting the antenna just below the top of the tower.

I would HIGHLY recommend it for repeater use.

KI4KFX Rating: 2005-08-01
It's a monster Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After reading the rather obscure instructions I magaged to get it up on my 30 ft. mast. You have to fasten the antenna together with the supplied wrench's. I found that by slightly tapping them on the ground the leads will come out of the 1st and second sections so you can connect them together. I attached a 75ft LMR400 cable and erected. It works pretty good but not any better than my firestik which was a whole lot easier to assemble. The plus side is that it is dual band. The SWR is a little high on the upper
2 meter band (about 1:2.1)and seems to be optimized for the lower wavelenghts (about 1:1.5). The 440 is adjustable and comes in at 1:1.4 if you center the ring. All in all a nice
dual band antenna for the price, but it's size
makes erecting a chore. It would have been nice if they would have included a guy wire ring to help stabilize it. At 17 feet it does move around quite a bit with just a small amount of wind.
N4FXS Rating: 2005-07-20
I LOVE IT !!! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Mine is up 30 feet. Fed with LMR-400. We routinely get 40+ MPH winds here at the house, so I was worried that I lose this beastie! Not so!!! We lost trees, aviaries (rolling down the road like boxes), car parts, you name it, but the Tram is still up there. The major problem I have with it is that it works too well. If I don't drop power to 1 or 5 watts, I'm bringing up repeaters all over Arizona. At 40 watts, I can easily work my mobile unit at distances in the 50-80 mile range. That ain't bad, considering that the mobile is a 4 watt walkie with an outside antenna!!! I AM IMPRESSED!!! I didn't like the tuning instructions - they were bogus. Had to use the meter to tune it... I moved to the 1481 from a 8 dBi omni. The difference is astounding. I want another one, but the XYL says no. Sigh...
N4CCV Rating: 2005-07-10
Nice Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Signals improved. So far it's holding up ok. I added some extra sealant at the joints.