Nagoya 701 or 771 for 446 MHz?

[Powermax]

I have both these antennas but sadly they are fakes, so I don't really know how each of the genuine kind would work.

They give about the same performance on Tx and much better than the stock antenna, however, they are inferior to the stock on Rx. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Surely if they are badly tuned then both Tx and Rx would be poor.

Anyway, my question is, given that these fakes have little or no quality control, what kind of performance could I expect from a genuine 701 & 771.

Does the the extra length make any difference on 446?


Thanks!

[26mb04]

There's a post somewhere on here about the Nagoyas. From what I rememeber there isn't much difference between the genuine ones and the fakes, although it's been a while since I read it. Someone (I can't remember exactly) said they improved one by cutting the end off (at what length??).

The newer Nagoya design has a shorter base part (the wide bit), meaning it might not provide quite as much physical support as the older design did.

[billzebub2000]

The details are in the recent "Baofeng F8 III" thread.

Hope that helps.

[Powermax]

Thanks for your replies!

Very interesting thread. I just wish I had the money for a spectrum analyser.

Why manufacturers can't make accurately resonant antennas is a mystery though. Is it because 99% of them are fakes?

[Werthers]

They probably wont make much difference they are all just as crap along with the boafengs and other Chinese crap, ok for the money but you get what you pay for.... well most of it.

Get some ex PMR quality radios and make your own antennas.

[26mb04]

Why manufacturers can't make accurately resonant antennas is a mystery though. Is it because 99% of them are fakes?

They can, and do. SWR is down to loads of other physics, you could analyse the same antenna in 10 different locations and you'd probably get 10 different tuning reports. What doesn't help is each country having different V/UHF allocations, so doing it properly they'd need to make the same antenna model to ~20 different lengths which wouldn't be economical at £10 a pop.

[scanhermit]

I'm after a decent telescopic (SMA male) for a Retevis. I figure that I can set it to resonant length for 446 and not have to worry about SWR.

[paulears]

The snag with all the comments about Nagoya antennas is that the name belongs to at least a minimum of three different comanies in three different countries. The original Nagoya was of course Japanese, and based in Japan. However, it is also a brand name, so a separate entity from the Japanese firm, and from the early 80's was active in Taiwan, Nagoya as a brand belonged to the Reuex Industrial Company. The trading arrangements with China and Taiwan are complex, so the basic designs of the Taiwanese company are also made by Chinese companies. My contacts say the arrangement is like a franchise operation. Lots of Chinese small factories all producing Nagoya branded antennas using the same designs but no direct control. It seems likely that there is no such thing as a counterfeit Nagoya, just ones made slightly differently. Like McDonalds - where there are common ingredients, common menus, common photos and some taste better than others. It seems now that it is a generic name, with links to three countries, and no real contact between them. A very strange arrangement, but one that works. It also seems to be the same for Diamond Antennas - although this seems to just be a Japanese company with Chinese manufacture, but again following the same pattern. Buy a design, make it and stick on the Diamond branding.

[scanhermit]

You're going to tell me that Wilson antennas are dodgy now, aren't you?

[scanhermit]

I've treated myself to a Broadsword PMR antenna for the Retevis. I'll let y'all know how I get on with it.

[scanhermit]

First test with the Broadsword - I went to a spot where i'd copied as far as 10 miles on my handheld with stock antenna. It's very foggy so I'm not sure it's a perfect test but the receive was definitely clearer and, once I'd found a decent spot, I got fewer requests to repeat mysef. I'll have to get it out on a hill top on a clear night.

I ordered it with the wrong SMA connector but since it goes into a BNC connector I was able to order the correct one. The Broadsword thus doubles as an antenna for my 125XLT.