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Reviews For: Austin Spectra Amateur Four Band Mobile 30, 150, 450, 800 MHz

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

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Review Summary For : Austin Spectra Amateur Four Band Mobile 30, 150, 450, 800 MHz
Reviews: 5MSRP: $85.00
Description:
Transmits on 50-144,440 MHZ @100 watts It's only 33'inchs long and weighs just two pounds. receive range 30-50, 150-174, 430-512, 806-896 MHz
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.austinantenna.com/PRODUCTS.HTML
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0053.8
K7NG Rating: 2011-04-04
Some good, some bad Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first Austin Spectra disintegrated the first time after I mounted it and had it up to freeway speed. The person I spoke to about it at Austin said they wanted it back to see what happened, but of course it was scattered around the freeway and I wasn't going to retrieve it. They offered me another at half price... so it became a $145 antenna... not a bargain.
The second one has held up fine so far.
After a number of months worth of observing its performance as a scanner antenna, I've found as follows:
Low band: Mediocre, but works much better than a high performance scanner whip antenna inside the car. About what I expected, after all, it's a lot shorter than 1/4 wave on this band.
VHF High band: Seems about like a 1/4 wave VHF whip.I'd hoped for better, since this is the band I use the most, but what the heck.
UHF (440 - 470 MHz): Less experience with this band than others due to lack of signals, however, it seems to work GREAT.
800/900 band: As far as I can tell it does a very good job. Hard to determine for sure since I can't always be sure what site I'm hearing.
VHF Air band: About like a 1/4 wave whip.

The VSWR in the 2M and 440 Ham bands is below 2:1, and I like that for backup antenna use in the mobile.

I give it a '3' because of the first antenna.
K2KOH Rating: 2010-03-14
Great Mobile Monitor! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this antenna to use on my drive from NY to North Carolina. I wanted to see how well it would perform for a X-country trip later this year. I was not disappointed. It performed better than any mobile scanner antenna I had ever used before. The Forsyth County TRS started coming in long before I got to Forsyth County, NC. Back home, it performs quite well on all bands, including low band. I can hear Putnam County Fire mobile units better than before. The spring contact at the bottom bothers me, but if you're careful, it's not a problem. I highly recommend this antenna!
K9WWW Rating: 2008-11-17
Does not hold up Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Used this with my Yausu FT-8900. Tune up great on my pickup truck. Antenna mounted on the top rail of the box and only stuck up about 4" above the topper. Had great reception and I was very happy...until it fell apart. The base is spring mounted and made to flex. When carring something around e truck it got caught an flexed it over. No signal... I checked it out and saw the coax leading up the antenna pulled right off the base. I called Austin Antenna and spoke to the only person I think works there and she said they were very interested to see it because they had 'never' had one do that before and asked that I send it back and they would repair it. Almost three weeks later I called her again and she said they were no going to fix it and I could buy anther one - to which I asked her, "If this one didn't hold up a year, why would I purchase another?" She offered a discount but for the exact same unit with a spring base. I asked if they could make it with a fixed base, but she said no.

I am going to get an antenna that will stay on my truck more than a year and actaully has some support to back it up.
N4UED Rating: 2006-09-28
The best moble/base antenna. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I use my Spectra as a base antenna for my Radio Shack PRO-2052 scanner. I can tell so much difference in its performance. I had a Radio Antenna base antenna and it honestly fell apart. This antenna is durable and will be around for a long while. Mine is mounted about 15 feet up beside my deck. I hear the emergency services at the 30 to 40 mile range much better than ever before. I use a ground plane kit from Lakeview out of South Carolina. It has three radials and a NMO mount along with a pig tail with a SO-239 on the end. I find this works well for me.I use the Austin Condor Handheld Antenna on the roof of my car on a BNC mag mount. This works well moble. I am pleased and am happy to have found the Austin Antenna Company.
WW1LP Rating: 2006-01-13
Low profile performance Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I was amazed at the performance of this antenna.A very durable design, NMO mount, with a heavy duty spring. Designed origionally for emergency and law enforcement applications, antenna can be adjusted for transmiting on low band or adjusted for six meter ham use. The top stinger adjusts the low band swrs only. The vhf and uhf swr are very broadbanded for duel applications amateurs use or commercial use. A very good all in one antenna for Hams,Police and Firemen. You won't be disapointed in this piece.