jeff10 Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 Hi. Sometime back I bought an iCom T22A radio. (here's the spec).... http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/3400.html I got the radio with a long antenna fitted to a magnetic foot. As good as this is it's not very practical so I'm thinking of buying a standard size antenna instead. Being a bit of a numpty when it come to comms I'm unsure of what I need, so I thought I'd run it pass you guys first. The fitting is a BNC - so far so good but for the rest, is the only consideration I need to make before buying is that of the frequency? It seems that a 144mhz antenna is needed to work with this radio. Am I right??? Are there any other criteria I need to consider before buying? For example, would this link do?? It is also telescopic. Is that added valve or just sales pitch? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAGOYA-NA-773-BNC ... C294%3A200 Thanks Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatboy Posted June 3, 2009 Share Posted June 3, 2009 This is what I use http://www.northern-paragliding.com/helmets/instruments/radios-headsets-accessories/headsets-and-accessories/1-4-wave-flexi-antenna.html?flypage=shop.flypage The reasons I use this antenna are it works for what I expect of it & because in a basic form it is just a piece of flexible wire, it does not try to break the BNC socket out of my radio when I stuff it a flying suit pocket. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff10 Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 Hi Paul. Thats an interesting soultion. A Curley Wurley I'm not sure if it'll extended the range tho coiled up or otherwise. What about the 144Mhz? Is that right? I was hoping to get some feedback about that. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil_P Posted June 6, 2009 Share Posted June 6, 2009 Pretty much any generic 2m (144 mHz) antenna will work fine. The rubber duck style are handy because you don't need to mount them onto a substantial piece of metalwork in order to get a good ground plane. That said, they are not very efficient. The cheapest solution (and very effective to boot) is to knock up a half wave dipole antenna and string it across your cage. This can be as simple as two pieces of wire, each somewhere around the 50cm mark in length. Connect one piece to the centre conductor of some RG58 coax, and the other piece to the braided shield of the coax. Pot the joint in some silicon or resin and connect a BNC plug to the other end of the coax, to hook onto your radio. Most folks probably hold their radio somewhere near vertical, so run the wire elements top to bottom of your cage, away from the metalwork, zip tied to the netting is best. This will give you a nice vertically polarised signal. If you want to check how good a job your antenna is doing, then you will need to pop a SWR meter into the circuit between radio and antenna. This will also allow you to optimise the length of the wires for the frequency you commonly use, which means shortening the elements for higher frequencies. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.