[Arklatex]

Seems like most preppers have one of the radios. I found an interesting article for a simple and inexpensive upgrade. Basically you just unscrew the antenna and add a piece of wire and screw it back down. This will probably work on most HTs as well.

19.5" for 2 meter

11.5" for 1.5 meter

6.5" for 70 centimeter

Also, if you havent done it yet get the upgraded antenna made by Nagoya from amazon. It is a cheap upgrade. Made a big difference for me at least.

Here is the article: The Ten Cent Modification You Can Do to Double Your Radio's Range - Code Green Prep

 

[Arklatex]

Where are the radio guru's?

 

[Diver]

Seems like most preppers have one of the radios. I found an interesting article for a simple and inexpensive upgrade. Basically you just unscrew the antenna and add a piece of wire and screw it back down. This will probably work on most HTs as well.

19.5" for 2 meter

11.5" for 1.5 meter

6.5" for 70 centimeter

Also, if you havent done it yet get the upgraded antenna made by Nagoya from amazon. It is a cheap upgrade. Made a big difference for me at least.

Here is the article: The Ten Cent Modification You Can Do to Double Your Radio's Range - Code Green Prep

That little trick is called a rat tail. It works. The Nagoya antenna is also an improvement. I've tried one on a Yaesu.

 

[exmilitary]

You are basically making a dipole antenna using the rat tail method. The ground plane on most antenna is short and therefore using a piece of wire you are making the ground plane long and thust increasing reseption.

 

[Sinkhole]

If you are looking into Nagoya antennas, beware, there are lots of counterfeits out there. This is how you can tell the real from the fake. I see a lot of reviews on Youtube and when you seen the close ups of the antennas they are fakes.

How to identify the genuine and fake antenna?

 

[Renec]

I'm using a MJF 1717 and like it better than the nagoya. Even without the "tiger tail"..it's quieter and sends and receives very well.
MFJ Enterprises Inc.