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Reviews For: Tram 1191

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

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Review Summary For : Tram 1191
Reviews: 16MSRP: 19.99 + Shipping
Description:
Through-glass dual band mobile antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00163.9
KL7BX Rating: 2012-01-23
Piece of Crap ! ! ! ! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Bought one of these Tram so-called "dual-band" antennas for my full-sized truck. Learned my lesson.... you get what you pay for. A real P.O.S.!
Would only tune ONE band for decent SWR, but not BOTH bands. I suspect the TRUE gain factor is a NEGATIVE value of db, since it receives WORSE than my 1/4-wave mag-mount. By the way, I'm a radio/electronics technician by trade. I know how to tune antennas. This one WON'T tune worth a darn, for BOTH bands to work effectively. On the FLIP side, thier TRAM Model 1180 NMO Mount Dual-Band 2mtr/440 Base & Center-loaded whip kicks butt!! I bought FOUR of them and use them all over the place. THEY WORK!!! The Thru-Glass? NOT!! My best advice: stay AWAY from the Model 1191 Tram glass-mount system, unless you just have excess money to waste.
FREEMA22 Rating: 2009-09-22
Not as good as a 1/4 wave Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the 1191 as a replacement for a 1/4 wave VHF pig sticker that is on a mag mount on the roof of my truck. I am using this antenna for an APRS tracker only. I installed the antenna and tuned it using an SWR meter. To check the effectiveness of reception, I tuned to various stations that came in weak on the 1/4 wave. Immediately, I noticed that these stations were coming in weaker or not at all. I tweaked the tuning a little, but was unable to improve the performance over the 1/4 wave. The next day, I drove my normal route to work. When I logged in to APRS.fi, I noticed that my track had several holes in it where no packets were received. I used the antenna for a few more days, but ultimately removed it. Luckily it was only about $20 shipped, so I am not out a lot of money. Back to the drawing board.
W4MY Rating: 2007-12-30
Great value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got and installed this antenna in my XYL's new truck. She stipulated, no holes!

I gave it a 5 because it is a great value for what it is. For $20 + $9 S/H off of e-bay it holds its own with THE SAME type antennas costing twice as much.

If you compare this antenna to, say, a Larson 2/70 NMO mounted in the center of the car roof requiring a 3/4" hole in the sheet metal....No, its RF performance is not as good as that.

The SWR tuned right down to less than 1.5/1 across the entire 2M band, and about that at the top of the 440 band where the rig transmits.

It hits everthing I need in this middle size town where I live, and the RX is as good as any other setup I've had around here so far as I can see.

The quality of the materials are good, supplied with a good quality coax with molded connectors, and even a tuning tool. No instructions, but at this price, I didn't mind a little internet footwork. Just remember to clean the glass before installing and mount the inside unit with the coax connector oriented horizontally.

Recommended. 73 Marty / W4MY
KE5HFM Rating: 2007-12-04
Good antenna - for a glass mount Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna, when installed properly and aligned properly )eith the stub algned horizontally) is about as effective as any quarter-wave vertical. As long as you have the pickup and the antenna aligned on that glass. SWR's have been acceptable, but not great. 1.3 to 1.7 on both 2 Meters and 70cm.

Installation is simple, antenna is inconspicuous (compared to most other antennas on the market) and appears to be well made.

This would be good antenna if you're not wanting to drill holes in your vehicle, or don't want a cable exposed in a mag-mount application. in my area, this antenna lets me talk on all the local repeaters within about 20 miles abd performs well on simplex as well. I haven't tried it any farther than that. 15-20 miles can be a little spotty, and there's a significant amount of "wash" while the vehicle is moving.

Compared to a 5/8 wave mag-mount, this antenna falls short, but is smaller, and makes for a much cleaner install.

If you're not expecting to get huge distances, amazing s-meter readings - but need an smaller antenna for metro area repeater access, this would be a good choice.

No instructions were included with the antenna, so I had to get online and search for tips and tricks to installing a glass mount antenna. with a little research, you can install this antenna easily.

Here is a great resource for questions and answers to glass mount antennas (thought not completley aimed at HAM operators and not all the advice applies):

http://www.novastars.com/antenna/on-glass-antenna-installation.htm
AD5ZC Rating: 2007-03-07
Better than a duck Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
It's OK.
Got mine also for about $20 bucks from E-Bay. This antenna is the definition of "you get what you pay for". Don't get me wrong. It does match up well on both bands, the ability to tune is nice and the adhesive is strong. Needs an exhorbitant amount of torque to get the radiating element tight enough not to fall over. So much that sometimes I could see the adhesive stretching while I tightened it.
At first I was impressed. Had been using an HT with ducky as the mobile and frankly hadn't had a mobile with a decent antenna for a while. But today, I put a Larsen Mag mount with a 440-460 monobander on the roof just for comparison and the difference was 3-4 S-units. You read it right. 3-4 S-units. The real revelation was that the 440 mag-mount "monobander" outperformed the glass-mount recieving on 2 meters as well.
If glass mount is the only way to go for you, and you only have $20 dollars to spend, go for it. Otherwise, look somewhere else.
KE7KPV Rating: 2007-02-18
Great value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just bought this on eBay for about $20. The quality of the unit is very good and after installation, the SWR was down at 1.4:1 or lower for both 70cm and 2M. Where this antenna falls on its face is that there is NO support. No website, no instruction manual NOTHING! It didn't even come with a picture of how the finished product should look which means you have to guess how their design works and how the pieces fit toghether. As this is brand new for me, I haven't checked performance yet. I'll write when I get more data.