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Reviews For: Smiley 2m Half-Wave Telescopic Antenna for HTs

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

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Review Summary For : Smiley 2m Half-Wave Telescopic Antenna for HTs
Reviews: 7MSRP: 25.00
Description:
THE 1/4 WAVE FLEX ANTENNA Smiley Antenna using a newly designed flex coil matching network has made a ½ wave antenna that is light weight flexible and meets all the typical performance characteristics of the standard half wave monopole antenna. Outdoor range tests show significant gain over rubber duck supplied with handhelds and our hand held tuned rubber ducks. This new flex coil matching network provides at band center low SWR as well as a + 5 MHz band center. This deign is incredibly resistant to the anticipated rigors of the end user abuses, while providing an efficient and stable radiating device suitable for today’s receivers and transmitters below 25 watts. Telescope 8" Down and 36" up.

Product is in production
More Info: http://smileyantenna.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0074.3
KK4MHI Rating: 2016-06-15
tHREADING WRONG ON BASES Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my second order from Smiley. The first one was perfect. This time I ordered 4 different antennas including this 2m telescopic and all but one of the SMA Male bases were threaded incorrectly and I almost cross-threaded the antenna connection on my expensive Yaesu FT1D HT. Wouldn't fit on any of my HTs (about 7 different ones).
So now I have a lot of expensive junk-tennas.
Years ago they were good but it seems their QA has gone downhill into a bottomless pit.
I'll update this if they ever make good on sending me SMA Male bases that actually fit an SMA female connector but I don't know. THey do NOT list an email or support contact on their website at all, just some javascript pop-up that I don't trust.
KN0JI Rating: 2014-05-03
Very best HT vertical Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My honest rating would be about 4.8, actually. I have purchased and used two of them, the Smiley 2 m 1/2-wave telescopic (for my Yaesu FT-60R) and the Smiley Super Stick II 2 m 5/8-wave telescopic (for my Baofeng UV-82), and their performance is unmatched IMO. They perform much better than the Retech RHA-771 (on my Yaesu) Nagoya NA-775 (on my Baofeng) and a little better than the Nagoya UT-108 mag mount, but not quite as good as my homemade 2 m 1/4-wave ground plane.

Their only drawback is that they tend to be top-heavy when carrying them around on your HT, and put quite a heavy strain on your HT's PC board. So, when I'm not using the radio, I remove the antenna to preserve my HT, but that kind of defeats the purpose of my wanting to hear what's going on when I'm hiking, etc. I purchased the BNC version of these antennas, then bought BNC-to-SMA connectors that have large cowls that touch the HT when attached, to help relieve some of the strain.

Overall, the performance outweighs the drawbacks, and I highly recommend them. They perform better than any 2 m HT vertical I have ever used.
K4XXX Rating: 2014-04-06
Great antennas Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought two of these. One for the ham band and one for the public safety band as I'm on a fire department. These antennas, although when extended are quite long, helps me get out and hit repeaters in areas that the normal duck antenna cannot reach. I also bought two UHF versions and they work great as well on ham and GMRS.

Would defiantly buy more!

Ed
K4XXX
KJ4DKT Rating: 2012-01-08
ITS GREAT Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I located a antenna for my hh. BNC connector 10" lowered, 54" extended and is base loaded. I can hit repeaters 30+ miles away. I cannot find this antenna on the Smiley website, however Lorrie at Smiley only said it SOUNDS like a 2 meter ant. Anyone have more info???? tnx, Fred email freeloader666@yahoo.com
BMBLB Rating: 2007-02-02
Light weight! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have both Smiley and MFJ Long Ranger telescopics for my VX-150. According to my digital postage scale, the Smiley weighs 1.9 oz. The MFJ Long Ranger, with SMA/BNC adapter, weighs 2.8 oz. What's nine-tenths of an oz. between friends? It's a pretty hefty bending moment at the connector when the antenna is this long. The Smiley is a bit smaller in diameter, is slightly shorter, has more telescopic sections, a spring coil at the base, and doesn't need an adapter. The reception seems to me to be better with the Smiley, though both are a vast improvement over the duck. Smiles!
KD7MWR Rating: 2006-11-11
Great gain for an HT Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I use this antenna on an ICOM IC-V82. This antenna along with 7 Watts allows me to reach my local repeater from about 40 to 50 miles away. It really is the difference from being unreadable to having a solid signal to the repeater. It has become my antenna of choice for backpacking and hiking. It does almost as well as my mobile mount antenna.
N1KSN Rating: 2005-04-06
Well made, delivers expected performance Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Two things caused me to get this antenna. First, I read a good review of another HT antenna made by Smiley. Second, there was a very interesting article in a recent issue of QEX looking scientifically at the performance of various HT antennas, and half-waves came out looking very good.

This antenna is available in both BNC and SMA versions. I originally got the SMA for my VX-150 and not too much later got the BNC version for my IC-T2H Sport. An older ham had warned me about telescopic half-waves being hard on the HT's antenna connector, so I was pleased to find that this model is somewhat flexible at its base, thus helping some with this problem.

The SMA version I got had some residue on the whip portion, making it initially hard to extend it, but some mineral spirits (applied carefully) took care of that.

I ran some seat-of-the-pants tests with a field strength meter in my basement. As expected, the half-wave did better than ducks. I found that this antenna seemed to radiate about the same amount of power as a Diamond SRH-77CA when a quarter-wave tigertail (counterpoise) was used, and these were the winners in my ad hoc comparisons. Since the center of the half-wave would be higher in normal use, it might have a slight edge.

When doing public service events I tend to use external antennas (most often a homebrew encased J-pole or an Elk Antennas dual-band logperiodic, depending), but I think this half-wave telescopic will suffice in many situations. I use my T2H on my bicycle with another encased J-pole (a "Jurassic Duck"), but I will keep my BNC version of this antenna in the handlebar bag as a backup.

I carry the SMA version along with my VX-150 in my work briefcase, so I'm ready if there is an ARES activation. My ARES group's repeater is some ways away from my office, but I have no problem hitting it with low power and this antenna.

In summary, these give the expected performance of a half-wave and are convenient. From what I can tell, their construction quality is first rate, too.