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Reviews For: Comet SMA-501

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

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Review Summary For : Comet SMA-501
Reviews: 3MSRP: 25
Description:

2M/70cm HT Antenna.
Gain & Wave: 0dBi 1/4 wave
Max Power: 10 watts
Length: 1.75”
Connector: SMA
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.cometantenna.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0034.3
KC9IMT Rating: 2007-10-13
Great Pocket Size Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this as I take my HT with me on the train to work every day. I enjoy listening to the conductors and local repeaters as the train is flying by, but I also want an antenna that is small enough that I can throw my HT in my pocket and run. It's small, flexible, and still is pretty solid on TX/RX. Hard to beat this little antenna for someone on the go!
N1SU Rating: 2007-05-30
Better than expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
A little weak on 2m but does well on 70cm. 160MHz railroad and weather band has better coverage with the Comet than my VX-2R's stock antenna. Appears to be very durable.

Compared to my Diamond SRH-519 the Comet SMA-501 is roughly 3-4 LCD segments less signal for UHF and 4-5 for 2m. If a station is weak with the SRH-519 it's unreachable with the Comet, but the Comet's also a lot shorter!

Signals that are full scale signal with the Diamond are about 2/3rds of the way over with the Comet. The stock Yaesu VX-2R antenna performs no better than the Comet in my experience.


The bottom line is if you work repeaters that are consistently full scale signal reading with a larger antenna the Comet SMA-501 will definitely work well.

I would definitely buy another.
YC3EBW Rating: 2006-04-04
Good on UHF Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
According to my experience: For its size(1.75"), this antenna is good on 430 MHz. Attached to vx-5r with 2.5 watts(L3)I hit all the 70 cm repeaters about 8 km far from where I stand with complex surroundings( buildings, tall trees, busy truck traffic, etc.) It hit about 8 out of 10 repeaters that located 8 to 12 km far.I would say this sma-501 has performed about the same performance as the stock antenna. While my 8.5" sma-503 flex. whip antenna hit all the repeaters that has a distance from 8 to 10 km. On VHF, this antenna is still a lot better than just a dummy load(at least it's still usable).Compare to the stock the signal drastically come down from about full scale to 2 unit signal scale.