Anybody own one?

Is it worth it to upgrade the antenna from the rubber ducky
to one of those skinny, longer Comets?

How about any handheld?

Is it worth it to upgrade the antenna???

Quoted: How about any handheld? Is it worth it to upgrade the antenna???

I do not own a VX-7R but plan to buy one in the near future.  When I do I will definately upgrade the antenna.  I have a VX-170 right now with a Diamond SRH77CA antenna and it made a world of difference especially on the TX side.  In my opinion, the antenna makes the radio.

I have the VX6R and the standard antenna works fine for most uses.  I also have one of the longer Diamond antennas (don't remember the model but its about 17" long).  I only use that if I'm in a rental or loaner car.  I use a window edge mount and cable to get it outside the cabin.  With this configuration, the ranges are signifcanly improved.  

Quoted: How about any handheld? Is it worth it to upgrade the antenna???

I have a vx6r.  The standard antenna on that is pretty good.  I've read in several places that it is above average for the standard ht antenna

I also have an sma24 antenna review, but I wouldn't say that it is way better.  It does give me some gain relative to the standard though.

I bought a Diamond SRH320A for my FT-60R.  It works noticeably better than the stock antenna.  Tried it on a friend's VX-6 with the same result.  By noticeably better I mean local 2M repeaters went from a signal strength of 2 bars to 5 bars.

Quoted: I bought a Diamond SRH320A for my FT-60R.  It works noticeably better than the stock antenna.  Tried it on a friend's VX-6 with the same result.  By noticeably better I mean local 2M repeaters went from a signal strength of 2 bars to 5 bars.

Wow.  I haven't really used my HT much locally except for my cross-band repeat with my truck, but with the stock antenna, I can hear Bluemont pretty well.  Granted, Bluemont is huge and well situated, but its also about 60 miles from me.

My experience with the better antenna was really on a trip I took to CA.  I had the Diamond antenna mounted outside the window of my rantal car.  I was talking to the Catalina Island repeater from Riverside.  That's a hell of a feat for an HT.

Quoted: VX7R -- Anybody own one?

IMHO, 6M FM on an HT is not especially useful.  get a VX6R instead.

ar-jedi

If you travel for business as much as I do, I would recommend the VX-7R.  Different towns have different repeaters and the owners of those repeaters will determine the frequency band they want to operate on.  I regularly visit a town for work were the 6m FM repeater is the only repeater I can hit.  Another town where 1.25m is favored frequency band.  

Thus, figure out the frequency bands you will need where you live and where you visit, adjust according.

6m portable capability is seriously impaired by the antenna on a portable radio. I would save the money and get the 2m/440 radio instead and spend the extra cash on another battery or something,

That being said I would be interested on testing a low power 6m portable radio with a longwire dipole. Perhaps it could be useful. If the radio could do SSB 6m it would perform even better.

Experiments for another day.....


-LTC-

As for antennas, I recommend for your first aftermarket HT antenna, get one of the +/- 17" thin flexible type. Everyone makes them, but some are more flexible than others. I like the Opek (a knockoff of Comet) -- got it for $15 at a hamfest. Truly amazing increase in performance. My others (for comparison) are the stock duckies (for VX-6 and VX-2), Maldol MH-209SMA (teeny tiny) and a more middle of the road Comet SMA-503 (8.5").

Theory being you can leave a shorter (and more rugged) model on the rig and just store the long whip in your EDC bag (it bends over pretty well). Just stick the 2 ends down in a large pocket and you don't even know you've got it with you.

The 17" whip is my all-star of HT antennas (not counting external coax-fed ones, obviously).

I have a Diamond SRH320A on mine. It's very flexible and does perform better that the stock antenna.

This Comet SMA-24 is the one I'm looking at.
About $25 from any of the online/catalog guys.