Bingfu Vehicle Car Mobile Ham Radio Antenna Dual Band VHF UHF 136-174MHz 400-520MHz Magnetic Base PL259 Male Antenna for BTECH ICOM Midland Yaesu TYT AnyTone Amateur Two Way Radio

I got this to basically just mess around and see how much it could help pick up and clean up signals on my Quansheng UV-K5, and Baofeng BF-F8HP and I honestly wasn't expecting too much difference for these radios and what this antenna seemed it could offer. But it turns out it has helped a lot on both handhelds and signals have come in a lot clearer and I can even pick up some repeaters and channels I couldn't before I got this hooked up on them. I'm pleasantly suprised and am actually looking to get another one now for an ATV when I go out and drive around and have another connected to the one I purchased now for communications. It seems sturdy and well built enough and better quality than I also anticipated for the price. Would recommend anyone who has a Baofeng/Quansheng type radio handhelds to pick one up themselves for what it offers and the price.

Works great on gmrs frequencies gets about 9 to 10 miles distance with a 25 watt radio in the bottoms of the hills

I recently bought some Baofeng UV-5G GMRS hand held radios for communication between vehicles while exploring back roads. Great little radios. Mine puts out 8 watts. Only use the 15 inch antennas. They are not good but the other two are total garbage when it comes to SWR readings. [ the amount of power reflected back to the radio instead of being transmitted ] The little ones: SWR of 7. This means half your power is not being transmitted. The 15 inch = 2. About this antenna: In the FRS and GMSR frequencies, they have a SWR of 1.03. 1 is perfect. The draw back is that the mounting magnet is weak and will release with the slightest touch from a twig over the vehicle. If not for that problem, I would have quickly given 5 stars. I'm gluing mine to an 8 x 8" piece of steel and using 4 of these magnets to hold it in place. They are inexpensive and very strong. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7WW62YZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I'm not a ham; I can barely spell radio. I bought my GMRS license and wanted a mobile radio for my truck. The Radioddity DB25-G was my choice: a dual-band radio that transmits in the GMRS frequencies (462-467 mHz) and can receive other frequencies in the 400-480 mHz range as well as 136-174 mHz. This antenna is perfectly suited to the radio I bought. Here's why... I used a fancy Vector Impedance Analyzer I have at work to test this antenna. I'll keep the stats simple because the antenna can't be tuned, anyway. For the GMRS frequencies in the 462 range, the antenna tested great and gave me a 1.03 SWR. In the GMRS freqs of 467 I found a 1.30 SWR. Also great. Because with a GMRS radio, this is all you're ever going to transmit on. In the 136 range I found a SWR of 1.9. Not super, but below the claimed stats of the antenna. When I tested it out to 174 I found a SWR of 3.43 - pretty horrible. If you bought this to transmit at 174 mHz, you're gonna be unhappy. But if you're going to hook this to a GMRS radio, you'll be doing well. SWR bears little to no relationship to receive quality, so using this antenna to listen to 136-174 mHz is fine. Otherwise, the magnet seems good, the antenna is stout, the cable is flexible but not chintzy, the PL259 seems ok, and the adapter for SMA is a nice touch for those HT folk.

Item shipped fast, box was not damaged. All parts were in the box and parts appeared to be nice quality. I assembled the antenna and mounted it on my car in the center of the roof, see video. Magnet wasn’t that strong but it NEVER FELL OFF during road test. I tested it at 45 and 60 mph, see video. The antenna SWR reading was 1.07 see video. I could not hear anyone and nobody heard me. I changed to my regular 6” antenna and was able to transmit and receive. All connections were tight. I returned it and I’m looking for another antenna. I’m aware others had great experiences so I gave it 3 stars. Thanks for reading my review and watching my video.

My original review (about the "broken" pin) was incorrect, I was unaware that was how they are supposed to arrive. I've been using it connected to a Btech UV-50X2 for a couple weeks now mounted to my car and it's working very well. Haven't done any actual range tests but the range and audio quality (TX AND RX) seems to be comparable to the antenna my dad uses with a very similar radio which is a much more well known and "higher quality" brand. Very happy with this purchase.

Okay, first I want to thank everyone who answered my question about a ground plane? THANK YOU. This antenna went from "meh, it sucks" to working great with the simple application of a 5-dollar steel cookie sheet. One radio-guru-man said, "If it is a magnetic base, it's safe to assume you need a ground plane." He was right. If you buy this antenna and your going to use indoors like I do? Set the fecker on a steel baking sheet of some kind. Performance goes up drastically. I'd buy another one if I needed to.

I use a Tidradio H3 for a base station, with a BTech amp, it measures 1.2 SWR with my Sirio CX455 antenna, gets positive responses telling me loud and clear. I connected the same radio and meter to this antenna on my truck & it measured 2.8 SWR (yikes!) and no one could hear me! Can’t adjust the antenna length due to the design, too late to return. Edited to add: nothing to lose, I removed the plastic end cap and cut about 3/8 to 1/2 inch off the top end of the antenna. New length is 16 5/16” long & SWR measured 1.0-1.2 on GMRS channel 19. ONLY recommend this if you’re willing to chop it.