Comet Antennas SMA-209J

Ordered this little guy for a quickly upcoming trip. The radio will be a side piece during the trip, something I want to have with, but not something I need to overly think about.

My Diamond 15ish inch antenna doesn't fit that bill, and the stock antenna that came with my Anytone 878 is shorter, but still not 'toss into a glovebox and forget' short.

Antenna came with a gasket, but the base is much narrower than the other antennas, so there is a gap between antenna and body. My big issue is right out of the box, the rubber boot popped right off. It looks like ill have to apply some light rubber rated glue to keep it on. The spring tension of the antenna inside is enough to launch it.

Beyond that, SWR is manageable on 2m. Was getting about 2.0 to 4.11 from low power to high. 70cm is... worse. 5.0 at low power to 12.10 at high power. FYI, Without the rubber cover on, itll shoot up to 19.99 max on my meter. Crazy how that slight spring compression makes such a difference.

This will be ok for 2m repeaters or calling freq, and on low power back in the house to a mmdvm hotspot on 70cm.

The drawbacks are just part of the territory with shorty antennas. The rubber is soft and bendable, so it won't be the cause utter stabbing irritation into my neck like the other two would be. I'll have it in my arsenal of antennas because it does have uses, just not high performance, nor should it.

Received this antenna and I didn’t even have it 5 minutes and the rubber cover falls off. The coil wasn’t even soldered to the base!

I put this on my RFinder B1+ and am very happy with it. I don't know the full range of it but I was able to hit a local repeater 3 miles away from my shack and no issue. It is very flexible so feels good with the radio on the belt.

I wanted a short flexible stub antenna for my HT so I could wear it comfortably. I planned to be within a few miles of the repeater and all I can say is this little antenna did full quiet at about 3 miles while I sat in my shack. I'm surprised to say the least.

I use this antenna in the house for using my RFinder B1 HT with my OpenSpot3 hot spot. Compact - good quality - works well for short range use. I highly recommend it.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this antenna when I purchased it. I found myself 30+ miles from the nearest repeater, I almost switched antennas to talk on the repeater, but then thought what the heck. I was able to open the repeater with full quieting. Very pleased!