Australian-style Off-Road Radio Antennas (GMRS & CB & Ham) (3 Viewers)

[cuteo100]

Thank you for the answers. And that's a perfectly matched load! I already put in a pre-order request for the 42" GMRS stick and looking forward to it.

To be honest, I'm not fond of having 3 different antennas on the truck to cover all my bases, but I understand the rationale.

 

[pcoppala]

The radome design with the load at the bottom does not support multiple-bands well. That said, I have not actually tried to find out how much power refection one would receive in 70cm. I'm not saying it won't work (well), just that we've matched the resonance to exactly 465MHz. I just genuinely don't know. I've been asked by less than a handful of interested folks for a 70cm antenna, which is fully doable, but we'd need to figure out how many would put an order for UHF Ham

I have a nanoVNA. I don't mind taking some measurements for 70cm once I get my 2m stick.

 

[jomelo]

Great news. I’m ready to buy!

 

[getco]

Any update on the next batch of preorders?

 

[jomelo]

just making sure I did not miss anything. I saw some emails that indicated things were really close but I have not seen anything saying it was go time. Any update?

 

[Pskhaat]

just making sure I did not miss anything. I saw some emails that indicated things were really close but I have not seen anything saying it was go time. Any update?

We have released the orders to those who have been on the waitlist first. We will make inventory available on the site therafter. We will give until next week for those who signed up on the waitlist.

 

[jomelo]

We have released the orders to those who have been on the waitlist first. We will make inventory available on the site therafter. We will give until next week for those who signed up on the waitlist.

I got my notification about 30 minutes after I posted last night. Order placed. Thanks.

 

[Pskhaat]

I've been traversing down Nevada to SEMA these last few days little to no data. The GMRS antennas are GA right now on the site!

 

[jomelo]

I've been traversing down Nevada to SEMA these last few days little to no data. The GMRS antennas are GA right now on the site!

View attachment 3156500

So what’s the deal with the Ham antennas. I got an email blast saying I “may” be getting the wrong antenna when the shipment arrives. Anymore details on that?

 

[Pskhaat]

So what’s the deal with the Ham antennas. I got an email blast saying I “may” be getting the wrong antenna when the shipment arrives. Anymore details on that?

Please accept my personal direct apology. Very transparently, I identified a problem with the fulfillment group with whom I've contracted. They have a number of folks where they put the wrong antenna in (I'm guessing they shipped a GMRS one) for those who ordered a 2m. Obviously I am not happy. Working 1-by-1 through each of this small batch error.

The MAY is that I sent out an email to anyone who could have been affected, as to give you a heads-up. We should have all RMAs sent out by end-of-week.

 

[jomelo]

Okay so posting here in hopes someone else dealing with this can assist. I ordered the 49” 2m ham antenna. I received a 49” antenna with no other real identifying marks. I got the email saying I may have received the wrong antenna. I have now received a 47” antenna that has same connection. The website does not even show a 47” antenna. Anyone got any ideas? The vendor seems to be traveling and did not view my last message. I’m not bashing this guy because it’s just an antenna and I hope he is having a blast. Just trying to figure out what is what. It seems like I did receive the correct antenna in the first place but then there is the second antenna and the email saying the first one might be wrong.

 

[pcoppala]

Okay so posting here in hopes someone else dealing with this can assist. I ordered the 49” 2m ham antenna. I received a 49” antenna with no other real identifying marks. I got the email saying I may have received the wrong antenna. I have now received a 47” antenna that has same connection. The website does not even show a 47” antenna. Anyone got any ideas? The vendor seems to be traveling and did not view my last message. I’m not bashing this guy because it’s just an antenna and I hope he is having a blast. Just trying to figure out what is what. It seems like I did receive the correct antenna in the first place but then there is the second antenna and the email saying the first one might be wrong.

I was in the same situation. I ordered a 2m Ham antenna and was part of the order mix up. Two weeks ago, I received an email from the shipping company with a return label with a new shipment notification for the correct antenna.

The original antenna I received had a barcode on it stating 56" and the new one they sent was 58" (total length). I'm out of the country for a while, so I've been having to navigate this through my non-technical family members.

Hopefully this helps.

 

[jomelo]

I was in the same situation. I ordered a 2m Ham antenna and was part of the order mix up. Two weeks ago, I received an email from the shipping company with a return label with a new shipment notification for the correct antenna.

The original antenna I received had a barcode on it stating 56" and the new one they sent was 58" (total length). I'm out of the country for a while, so I've been having to navigate this through my non-technical family members.

Hopefully this helps.

View attachment 3172158

View attachment 3172159

I do not see anything on the website in those lengths.

 

[pcoppala]

I do not see anything on the website in those lengths.

I presumed their package labeling included the length of the spring base. Probably easier for people in the warehouse to keep them straight. Since it's all inside the radome, I'm not sure how you would precisely measure the length of the element.

I was guessing the 58" overall length antenna equated to the 2M, and the 56" was actually a CB antenna. I emailed Scott when I was shipped a new antenna to ask which one I had (or how I could tell). I figured if it was GMRS, I might just buy it off him and avoid the hassle. Once I concluded it was CB, I opted to ship it back. I was never able to confirm it was indeed a CB antenna with Scott. I guess he was busy with SEMA or something.

 

[Pskhaat]

Hey everyone, sorry for delay in response. Allow me to clarify a number of thins:

• We screwed up in shipping a number of the 2m orders. Technically, it was the group who does our fulfillment, but that doesn't matter to you, what matters is you had a wrong antenna, and I apologize and take responsibility. I am so sorry if you were one of the folks affected, and I wanted to get messaging out to everyone ASAP.
• The labeling on the antennas does not make it clear as to what frequency one is over the other. We started a while back only doing GMRS so it was straight forward. Lessons learned and we will start properly labeling (in some way) the antennas as to which is what. I know that message doesn't help you right now, but,
• The physical length of the antenna is different. Generally speaking, the 2m antennas are a bit longer, to the tune of 2-5cm. This can be measured either at the threaded intersection between the spring base and antenna body, or from the very bottom mounting stud. The spring base is identical between all bands of antennas, allowing for a quick threaded change. The 27MHz/11meter antennas are actually quite close in size to the 2m, but no one at all should have received an accidental CB antenna, to be clear.
• If you have any questions at all on this, please reach out to me directly at mailto:jsj+ih8mud@alamosa.mobi

I apologize again, please let me know how I can make this right for you.

 

[Pskhaat]

This right here indicates that that antennas is 146MHz, so 2 meter Ham.

 

[jomelo]

@Pskhaat okay I am going to send back the shortest of the two antennas I received.

 

[pcoppala]

• The physical length of the antenna is different. Generally speaking, the 2m antennas are a bit longer, to the tune of 2-5cm. This can be measured either at the threaded intersection between the spring base and antenna body, or from the very bottom mounting stud. The spring base is identical between all bands of antennas, allowing for a quick threaded change. The 27MHz/11meter antennas are actually quite close in size to the 2m, but no one at all should have received an accidental CB antenna, to be clear.

I think what had everyone confused, myself included, is an antenna is 1-2" shorter than a 5/8 2m ham doesn't seem like it would be a 5/8 GMRS antenna (146Mhz vs 444Mhz).

 

[Pskhaat]

I think what had everyone confused, myself included, is an antenna is 1-2" shorter than a 5/8 2m ham doesn't seem like it would be a 5/8 GMRS antenna (146Mhz vs 444Mhz).

As you know, the resonant RF frequencies are matched/set by the inductor in the base. Not always the 5/8 monopole. VSWR will remain very close to 1.0.

 

[pcoppala]

As you know, the resonant RF frequencies are matched/set by the inductor in the base. Not always the 5/8 monopole. VSWR will remain very close to 1.0.

Thanks for clarifying. I wasn't intending to turn this into a discussion on antenna theory. I'm not familiar with many cases where a dedicated band antenna has a physical length >> electrical length. Usually reactance matching is used the other way around to shorten then physical length for a more compact antenna package.

Have the antenna lengths advertised on your website changed? (you said GMRS is only 2-5cm shorter than the 2m, but on the website it's 42" for GMRS vs 49" for 2M) Most non-technical consumers probably care most about the overall package length since it would impact height above the vehicle, or space when folded down.