Nagoya, Diamond etc.

[Road_Hog]

Right, I know this is quite a contentious subject, this is only a post to discuss my findings. The radio used is a Baofeng UV-B5

I have three aerials, an MRW-100 picked up directly from Moonraker (Woburn Sands or wherever they are) about 10 years ago with a BNC connector.

I then purchased a Nagoya NA-771 from Doug at Knights. I checked everything about these, the packaging (cross hatched not smooth, TW made, REUEX) the laser print in silver, the newer base style, with just VHF/UHF not the frequencies any more, the triangles on the lettering of the packaging. Checked length, weight etc.

Got myself a decent SMA - BNC adapter, not one that looks like it's a antenna on a twig - why do they make the adapters so long that about half an inch is protruding from the antenna base?

The I got a Diamond RH771 from Dave at Radioworld (don't think he was impressed by me indicating that I wouldn't be happy if a copy turned up). Again, did all the background checks, Diamonds on the packaging, no dodgy SMA connectors on RH models etc.

I'm fairly convinced that after a lot of looking around (prior to purchase) I've got genuine items. Why on earth people buy £2.99 aerials from ebay or aliExpress and then are surprised when it is a fake, is beyond me.

I've only done receive tests at the moment, I'll have to wait until a mate can come over and we can do simplex tests at leisure, whereas it all seems to be repeaters around my way and it would be a complete faff to do at length a three antenna test with a complete stranger and through a repeater.

Using the BNC connector for the MRW-100 and the Diamond and direct connection for the Nagoya, here are my original findings.

There isn't a great deal of difference on the S-meter. The MRM probably beats the Nag by a tiny, tiny margin. If you have a 3 bar signal that flicks up to 4 bars, the MRW probably just lights the 4 bar a little more often.

The Diamond doesn't seem to do much in the way of the S-meter, but it seems to pick up a lot more than the other antennas and opens up the repeater far more often. I would put the Diamond first, it's receiving ability seems much better, whether this translates in to transmitting ability is another thing. The Nag is pretty good, considering it is half the cost of the other two.

I've seen it suggested that the Nag and the Diamond are the same antenna, but they look completely different, if anything the MRW-100 and Diamond look more alike. Also, the Diamond seems to pick up a lot of PMR446 in the area, that I didn't hear before.

[kr0ne]

For what is essentially a bit of net curtain wire in black heatshrink, I don't know why anyone cares if they get a fake from the far east. Like you say, at 3 quid a pop, what on earth do they expect?

Personally, I've been very happy with the fakes I have bought. It would be interesting to see a comparison between these and the real deals...

[LeakyFeeder]

Im more than happy with my three quid fake 771... It works well and thats all i want from it....

However if 'branded' items are your thing then you keep paying eh

[scanhermit]

The best ant that I have for my scanner is a 60cm length of mudguard stay stuffed into the remaining portion of a telescopic ant. Before that, the telescopic was better than my MRW100.

[kr0ne]

Haha! You've posted a photo of that before, haven't you?

I'm sure I have seen that contraption. Top job!

[scanhermit]

Thanks, I was surprised that a straight bit of metal would beat something costing £20 but perhaps I shouldn't have been.