Posted: 12/14/2009 11:19:56 AM EDT
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I ordered a couple of antennas for my HX370S a few weeks ago, based on reviews from ARFCOM, to cover the different bands I have programmed in it. I placed the order from their webpage and ended up clicking on the wrong connector type. (SMA Female Yeasu)
I sent an email asking what I needed to do to correct my mistake, expecting I would need to return the antennas for an exchanged. (I didn't know at the time that the ends were interchangeable) A few days later, I received two new SMA connectors in the mail. That's the kind of customer service that will get me to come back and recommend Smiley Antenna to anyone in need of an HT antenna. 
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Quoted:
should have only needed a VHF antenna. whats so special about the one you bought? I bought one that was tuned for the 2 meter band and another that was tuned for MURS to cover the freqs I have programmed into the radio. The antennas are about two to three times longer than the original marine antenna and works quite a bit better. I was having trouble hitting a local repeater with the original antenna which is tuned for the marine band; I switched to the Smiley antenna and hit the repeater with nearly full quieting. IMO, it's a great investment... at least for the radio I'm using. |
| if your working the repeater from home make yourself a cheap antenna. i made one with about $15 worth of parts in about 20 min. all it is is a tripod with about 6ft of RG-58 and 2 pieces of 12 awg solid core wire(cut both to 20"). a small wood block and a couple of the cable locks and your GTG. cut your wire and strip one end on each, use needle nose pliers to from the stripped ends into loops, drill 2 holes appx 3/4" apart, take 2 screws and place through the loops and then start to screw them in. dont run them tight yet. strip out 4-5 inches of the outer insulation on the RG, use the back side of a small pocket knife or even an ice pick and unweave the outer strands. twist together to form a "wire" then strip the center core down to about 1/2" from where you stripped the outer sheath. make sure to leave some inner sheath so the inner and outer wires dont/cant make contact. use some of the cable ties that clip over the cable and are secured with screws. set your RG-58 so the twisted lead is at the edge of your block. wrap that lead around one of the screws holding the 12awg wire and the inner core around the other screw. connect the block to the tripod or what have you. now bend the 12awg wire down at a 45* angle)center lead) and the other 12awg wire up to 45*(outer lead). you should have the wires sitting at 90* total. put your PL259 or other connector on the other end for your radio and your done other than sone trimming of the leads if you have a SWR meter. if not the 19" and 20" is pretty much standard. but start off with 20" leads and only trim small pieces off the center lead 12awg wire testing with the meter after every cut. i have good luck with 20 and 20 but with trimming you can get it down to 1.5 or less. if you want i can snap a couple of pics to clear things up. i have no problems hitting a repeater 9 miles away from inside my house with a HT running 5w. i can hit it on low power but my signal is weak, so i usually run high or use the closer recieve site that is about 4 miles away. i have no problems hitting that from inside on low power with full quieting. its well worth the time and money for using a HT. |