Pigtails or Stubby for HT's ? Which one is better ?

hycheng · Post by **hycheng** » Thu Nov 22, 2001 7:48 pm

I am always curious, is there any significant different in performance between the pigtails and stubby antenna ? What are the pros and cons ?
Chris

jjmcrowell · Post by **jjmcrowell** » Thu Nov 22, 2001 8:27 pm

In my experience the whip seems to have better range on both RX and TX, and the stubby ones are just a little more compact...in the UHF bands.

Astro_Saber · Post by **Astro_Saber** » Thu Nov 22, 2001 9:33 pm

my stubby VHF i think gets me a better then the longer one but thats my opinion

Post by **HumHead** » Thu Nov 22, 2001 9:37 pm

The whips definitely give better performance if you are trying to do anything other than use local repeaters or short distance simplex communications.

Also, the stubby antennas have a much narrower rated bandwidth (Beetween 20-40MHz for the stubbies, versus 109MHz for the whip!) This can make your decision for you if you are planning to use amateur and commercial frequencies in the same radio.

Personally, I keep a stubby on the UHF HunkaTrash1250 that I carry around my shop and complex, strictly for convenience, and because I only use the radio over a 10MHz band of frequencies. The Saber I use for public safety and amateur work has the whip.