Batboard

I think I have come to the point to switch out my diamond antenna's for a pair of triband antenna's. A few people have mentioned larsens, but in the past, I haven't been too impressed. Terry likes them, so thats a vote of confidence.

Needs to cover VHF (144-170), UHF 440-512, 800. I'd like to keep them as short and small as possible, and in black. I prefer the thicker metal so they are not flapping all over the place, but with some flexibility as they will be on a a Chevy truck cab and once in awhile they do go in some parking garages.

I'm not the biggest fan of Larsen either, but I've been using their 150/450/800 antenna for a couple of years now on an AVA and now a XTVA, and it seems to do okay. VHF performance was satisfactory for me; it did okay hearing Texas DPS distant P25 base stations mounted on the roof of my Impala (where it has not hit anything going through parking garages, but I somehow don't think you'll be so lucky on the roof of a pickup truck.) For real tri-band transmit capability in one antenna, I think it's pretty much your only option short of home-brewing something.

I've been pretty impressed with the newer stuff coming out of Larsen, after Radiall bought them out. I've got a crapload of their antennas in service (VHF wideband spring-load whips, UHF 430-450 3dB gain whips (great for 440 hammy), 150/450/800s, transit/lowpros, etc.), probably at least 50 in all, and have never had a failure attributable to engineering (usually attributable to idiocy on the part of the end user...)

The new ricemobile will have four 150/450/800s across the trunk lid, though some will be used for 150/450 only (better looks). I'll configure things where I can swap to a 3/5dB gain long whip when needed (road trips, etc.)