Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Tram 1190 Glass Mount 2M Mobile Antenna

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

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Tram 1190 Glass Mount 2M Mobile Antenna
Reviews: 2MSRP:
Description:
2M thru-glass antenna. Covers 144-148 (tuning tool included) with a 28-1/2" thin whip. Comes with 17' coax with PL259. SWR typical 1.5.1. 50 Watt max power.
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023
KC2LZO Rating: 2009-03-30
Good performer for a couple days Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just bought a new car, and unfortunately I can't find a suitable mounting point for an antenna on the metal, so I was forced to resort to glass-mount. While this antenna worked well the first time I keyed it up, the performance degraded rather rapidly.

When I installed it, I borrowed an SWR meter, and tuned it as low as I could get the SWR on the 2m band. Said borrowed meter didn't have a 440 setting, so I didn't bother. SWR on install tuned to 1.3:1 on 146Mhz, which was quite acceptable.

I installed it, and almost immediately noticed a problem after a long QSO totaling about 20 minutes at 50W. Suddenly the 440 transmit didn't work. When I say "didn't work" I mean it came out broken. My first instinct was to check SWR again, this time it read 2:1 on 146, and to top it off, the tuning slug would not spin.

More intriguing is that Radio Shack sells these antennas as CB antennas, with only a different sticker on the interior portion. When at the recent hamfest I noticed many of these same antennae with all kinds of different frequency plaques on the interior portion. A few even said 24-1300 RX/TX. Take heed.

I'm disappointed that it only took four weeks for this antenna to break, especially when I never exceeded the power rating. I won't buy one of these ever again. If you're considering this antenna, please reconsider the MFJ-1734.
W4CWG Rating: 2007-01-05
Great so far for the $$ Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just received one of these today purchased for less than $20 plus shipping and mounted it on the rear window of a 2007 Nissan Frontier pickup. This antenna looks and acts exactly like an ATOC ATA144 I got in 2002 for the wife's van (still working).

It tunes well, although like the ATOC, it has to have a choke (clamp-on ferrite bead) if you don't want the SWR wandering all over the place when you move the cable or mic! I added one that measured about 3uH 10" or so from the glass mount, retuned a tad and it's stable. Positioning of the bead or any cable between the bead and antenna affects tuning so that's why I put it where I did and added a cable clamp to keep the coax from flopping around.

One caution: get it exactly where you want it before letting it touch the glass. It really sticks. On mine the base had to be tilted a few degrees toward one side to make the whip exactly vertical. Whip adjusts in pitch with a screw but not roll (except when you position the base or bend the whip).

Likes: small size (2" sq. base and 28-1/2" whip), small price, works well
Dislikes: needs ferite bead for stability.

I tuned it at 147MHz (there's a tiny hole in the base and a supplied tiny nonmetallic tuning tool) and it's 1.2:1 there and stays below 1.7 from 145 to 148. I hit it with 50W from an IC2100H and didn't see any smoke but haven't had a long QSO yet.