42.5-inch ABBREE 144/222/435Mhz Tactical Antenna for Baofeng BF-R3 UV-82T Baofeng x Radioddity UV-5RX3 UV-82X3 BTECH UV-5X3 Abbree AR-F3 Tri-Band Radio Two Way Radio …

I didn't find these any good at all. I bought 2, one for each radio I have. A triband and dual band.I found that the standard antenna, and a Radioddity rd-371 antenna received signals that these abbree antennas just didn't. I tried in multiple locations, and had the same result each time. I was hoping these would be good for when I go camping... But obviously not..I also found that the antenna does not stay erect when mobile, or with any slight breeze these antennas collapse down on them self (hitting the operator in the head - or worse, anyone else nearby), or if the radio is on a table for instance, when the antenna collapses or there is a breeze they pull the radio down.I also found that the weight of the antenna puts a lot of strain on the sma connector, and is a risk of it breaking. so you cant just leave the antenna up whilst walking, you must hold the base of the antenna to stop it damaging the sma connector.These are so totally impractical.I have since found pictures and videos, that these are just made from recycled tape measures... and at £20+ I think well overpriced.so after a drawn out argument with the seller who wanted me to pay the shipping to china, I followed Amazons' advice, and I raised a claim, and got a refund - after weeks and weeks.

I've tryed it for a month now and it's not even as good as the standard baofeng rubber duck antenna, Rx and TX distance is much lower. Don't bother to waste your money...

I used a similar item, many moons ago, on 11m - so I figured, older/wiser, that the 42 variant would potentially be a good fit to my DMR radio smartphone, either of my DMR handhelds, and on a FT-70DE and FT-818ND using adaptors for extended range 2M/70 CM use.An interesting example of how these AR-152R actually are in practise was demoed nicely accessing GB3DA, in Essex, from my Chatham, Kent QTH.In the kitchen, using 2W FM on an AT-878UV - clean into DA without a problem. That's easily good given I'm in the depths of a valley where none of the local (bar the Rochester IK repeaters) are accessible on same radio at 6W on a dual band helical (factory item) and barely accessible under same conditions FM wise using one power level down on an MRW UltraGainer telescopic, but 2W FM gets me into 3DA on the tactical antenna and 1W on the IK repeaters on FM/Digital respectively.Given the geography favours easy access to none of the above path wise, a great result much mirroring what I remember on 11m on a similar item on a 2W HH back in the late 80s.So unless I'm simply in possession of a particularly decent example build wise, I can say that I can rate the 42inch tri-band item as a great value item. Given, at this price point, the actual quality of any reduced helical or otherwise whip antenna is a minefield of discovery and outright BS manufacturer claims, it's nice to actually find one that regardless of origin and it's actual construction is better in practise than most aftermarket and factory antennas on 2m/70cm.It's entirely possible mine was a particularly good one (tolerances and cut) - I've modelled and built a diy 15m/10m variant in the past, so I know that construction is easy but getting them to be dual/tried band at VHF upwards (I've built examples for GHz as well for wifi/Bluetooth long-range usage) is razor-edged when it comes to the cross-band resonance compromise and finessing to get the tape/strips finely altered to resonance. So anything of it's nature that's out of the pack effective is a plus over the basic criteria.Not hard to make, but for VHF upwards where dual/triband and not all bands are harmonically related it's a case of finding a not quite resonant balance that puts an useful S-parameter dip in three band segments you need.So it's a case usually with short/reduced (as is anything with a loading coil or trap) that the usual near but off resonance on all covered segments (although one will be remarkably closer to ideal on a tri or quad band antenna) is a price you pay, hence why a VNA sweep shows some interesting results on such designs, yet done right beat the odds.Such tape/strip antennas have a hidden exploitable characteristic rf wise I'll leave you to discover, but if you're able to cut/drill and build from strip's, they are repairable - but at this price point, you'd have to pretty accident prone to find return/repair more viable than a new item. The actual whip is unscrewable by design, so given a suitable threaded bolt to connect a scratch build guinea pig whip section - there's scope for improvement should you wish to try or just make spare whip sections.Whilst I refer to them as folded verticals, some varieties out there are actually near two element base loaded bicone design hybrids - so they ain't all the same 'cheapo' and merely junk clones of the same basic 'tape' tactical.To get the best out of a good one, you'll seem any gains in performance better in a poor geo path link than in a good path in FM use. Will have to do a test on the 818 on other modes at some point. Notably, with the FM test I did already, meant used (adaptors where required) I got good links to nearby DMR repeaters and hotspot/gateways. I'm almost tempted to mod my hotspot (duplex example) to take two of these directly in a optimal pattern, having already modelled it and knowing I can buy or build effectively according to motivation cheaply either way.Given a VBA, or a basic analyser, a pre-manufactured example makes a good off the shelf prototyping donor for whatever you fancy variant wise.As for review comments about connector strain, well a bit of lateral thinking makes BNC/SMA adaptor use easy to make less stressful on the FT's BNC and likewise where SMA/SMA used, the gaskets make good spacers and making the mounting more robust vs strain isn't exactly rocket science. Any combo of large or largish antenna balanced on a small connector is going to be stressful on the chassis socket by default and that's no matter which make of antenna/rig combo in question, even with the factory helicals supplied with radios.