Folded dipole or 7" whip? (800Mhz)

[Pj]

Has anyone done a side by side comparasion of the dipole portable antenna and the 7" whip (aside from comfort?)

[Josh]

Has anyone done a side by side comparasion of the dipole portable antenna and the 7" whip (aside from comfort?)

for RX purposes I have not had any noticeable difference using one antenna over the other. If you think about it, the 7" whip is an approximate half-wave.... the dipole antenna is also a half-wave... I don't know why they make two different antennas, I think it may be to satisfy old farts who are used to VHF antennas, and now are subject to a skinny 800Mhz whip and don't like the feel.

I don't know what is inside of the dipole antenna, but it is not at all flexible in the middle, leaving me to believe (short of cutting it apart, which I'm not about to do) that it's two quarterwaves center-fed.

-Josh

[RadioSouth]

Never compared the two but I did see one opened up and the bottom section was a piece of sheet metal rolled into a pipe and the top section looked like a 1/4 wave whip.

[motorola_otaku]

I don't know what is inside of the dipole antenna, but it is not at all flexible in the middle, leaving me to believe (short of cutting it apart, which I'm not about to do) that it's two quarterwaves center-fed.

It's a 1/4-wave coaxial dipole design. The inflexible part is actually a metal shell; at its top it's crimped and soldered to the feedline's (a short run of Teflon RG-174) braid and the center conductor is exposed for approximately 3 inches. I didn't have to cut one up; an old one that came with a lot of STXes just crumbled.

Based on the design I would have to believe it would be a more efficient radiator since it's actually matched instead of relying upon the radio's chassis for a groundplane, but like others I've never noticed much of a difference on receive. It does have the added advantage of putting the center of radiation up above your head when you're talking into the front of the radio, which does make a slight difference in fringe-area transmit range (noted while using 900 simplex.)

[xmo]

When these antennas were compared in a set of comprehensive tests, the half wave flex whip performed slightly better [a couple of dB] than the dipole [AKA elevated-feed] when used outside at head level or in vehicle.

When tested with the radio worn on the belt the dipole out-performed the half wave.