Smiley HT Antennas - I like!

[Moleculo]

Last year I needed an HT antenna for use in the business band that is durable and would not easily break under outdoor working conditions. I knew that Smiley Antennas would custom build to your frequency of choice and after looking at their design online, decided to try one out.

The antenna I purchased is the 5/8 wave Search & Rescue model with an SMA connector. Cost: $22

First, these antennas are built to take abuse! Check out this pic of me folding the antenna over on itself:

I'm sure there are HT antennas that are more efficient than the Smiley. However, my criteria for this antenna was: 1. On the frequency needed, 2. Will take almost any abuse, and 3. If possible, more efficient than a standard duck. I don't have any empirical evidence that this antenna is better than a standard duck, but it if it is truly a 5/8 wave as advertised, it certainly can't be worse. It easily meets my first two requirements.

One neat feature of these antennas is that they connectors are interchangeable. For about $7, you can order a different connector to use the antenna on just about any radio. Here's how it looks:

IMO, you can't really go wrong with these antennas for the price. I wouldn't hesitate to buy one again.

www.smileyantenna.com

 

[towerdog]

those look cool, and most, especially stiff ducks have a wire and solder joint inside that always breaks. next paycheck i might post my own review, thanks man.

 

[Wire Weasel]

Yep, Have 2 Smiley's myself. Great construction and best part is they will custom manufacture, or already have in stock, similar antennas for any frequency. I have a pair of older and discontinued FRS/GMRS HT's that had removable antennas on SMA, a feature since outlawed ??, for the FRS side anyway, and I got 2 Smileys for 472mhz or whatever it is to go on. Work great. Highly recommend as well.

 

[kk6gun]

i wasnt that impressed with the 2 that i own. The 2m one is a bit long to support itself and in hot weather up on the hill it would sag and flop around. I did some exploratory surgery on my uhf one to find that its just a base load coil with a speedometer cable whip stuck into multiple layers of heat shrink. For the price they work pretty well, im still a big fan of the maldol pro-hunter for remote use, and pryme's 2 longer offerings (al800 is my fav).