Dodgy knock off 2m / 70 cm / PMR 446 antenna for Baofeng
So It looks like I too have been caught out with the wave of dodgy knock off Antennas for my Baogfeng UV5 RC antenna, On YT and only the respected Miklor site that are numerous articles and videos of people trying to distinguish between the Genuine stuff and the fakes.
Often its the ubiquitous Nagoya NA-771 Antenna that is the commonest dodgy twig, but after searching for hours and not find ANY difinitive way of spotting the knock offs I'm taking the advice from the various radio forums and not buying any more antenna off E BAY, and even some Amazon suppliers have been of concern.
Its almost impossible to check out good from bad because for example even Nagoya keeps changing its packaging. Even the od dealer has been caiught out with knock offs from the Chinese suppliers.
One Nagoya "tell" for the NA-771 SMA Female antenna is the genuine stuff is supplied with a spare spacer, neither of mine had spacers.
Genuine antenna produce an VSWR of 1.5 to 2 on these multi band antenna, but many of the knocks offs VSWR is 10 (TEN)
looking around I see similar concerns over knock off Watsons and Diamond Antenna as well as Nagoya which raises the issue of not wrecking our radios and getting the best possible efficiency from our limited comms.
One POSSIBLE option has been suggested on the CT site , Its to buy BRITISH, A company in Wales ( I think) manufacturers antenna they even offer a bespoke service for specific bands and frequrncies. They are called SAND PIPER and as far as I can tell they produce good quality antenna in the UK and there are no knock offs.
Looking at their website they list this antenna which should be an ideal upgrade for our UV5s.
http://www.sandpiperaerials.com/product/2mtr70-cm-flexibnc50-cm-long-sma-female/
Its £14.95 inc VAT
Unless you lot know better???
So It looks like I too have been caught out with the wave of dodgy knock off Antennas for my Baogfeng UV5 RC antenna, On YT and only the respected Miklor site that are numerous articles and videos of people trying to distinguish between the Genuine stuff and the fakes.
Often its the ubiquitous Nagoya NA-771 Antenna that is the commonest dodgy twig, but after searching for hours and not find ANY difinitive way of spotting the knock offs I'm taking the advice from the various radio forums and not buying any more antenna off E BAY, and even some Amazon suppliers have been of concern.
Its almost impossible to check out good from bad because for example even Nagoya keeps changing its packaging. Even the od dealer has been caiught out with knock offs from the Chinese suppliers.
One Nagoya "tell" for the NA-771 SMA Female antenna is the genuine stuff is supplied with a spare spacer, neither of mine had spacers.
Genuine antenna produce an VSWR of 1.5 to 2 on these multi band antenna, but many of the knocks offs VSWR is 10 (TEN)
looking around I see similar concerns over knock off Watsons and Diamond Antenna as well as Nagoya which raises the issue of not wrecking our radios and getting the best possible efficiency from our limited comms.
One POSSIBLE option has been suggested on the CT site , Its to buy BRITISH, A company in Wales ( I think) manufacturers antenna they even offer a bespoke service for specific bands and frequrncies. They are called SAND PIPER and as far as I can tell they produce good quality antenna in the UK and there are no knock offs.
Looking at their website they list this antenna which should be an ideal upgrade for our UV5s.
http://www.sandpiperaerials.com/product/2mtr70-cm-flexibnc50-cm-long-sma-female/
Its £14.95 inc VAT
Unless you lot know better???
