just lou wrote:
[quote]I'm gonna try another antenna. It's a Diamond SRH789. It's a shot in the dark since I know little about it, but it sounds good on paper. $30.

The Diamond SRH789 is an omnidirectional telescoping antenna for 95 MHz to 1100 MHz. There is a hinge at the base. It acts as 1/4 wave from 95-300 MHz and a 5/8 wave from 300 to 1100 MHz. It can be used for transmit up to 10 watts. This black, six section antenna is 7.9 inches retracted and 31.7 inches fully extended. Gain is 2.15 dBi from 95-300 MHz and 3.2 dBi from 300-1100 MHz.

I've been doing some research and can not find SRH789 listed as one of the top antennas? From what I have found, the following antennas have been tested and are listed in the order of best overall, Grove ANT-8, Watson W889, Grove ANT-9 and Radio Shack 20-006. Can anyone find a comparison between any of these listed with Diamond SRH789? I would be interested to find out which is the best so everyone would know what is the best bang for our buck when it comes to portable antennas.

Bob wrote:


I don't have any experience with the Grove antennas, but I do with the RS and Watson. The Watson was a nice antenna. It's a small telescopic antenna that works well on most bands. It was better than the stock antennas that came with my handheld scanners. It's not a huge improvement though due to its small size, and mine broke very easily. The Radio Shack 20-006 is one of the most popular scanning antennas. To me it's way overrated. It does very well on VHF, but is only slightly above average on UHF, and is terrible on 800MHz. It is also very big and heavy which makes it less than ideal for portability. I still have 1 sitting in my drawer, but don't use it. IMO, the Diamond antenna easily overall outperforms these two antennas. There probably aren't many reviews of the Diamond since I believe it just came out fairly recently. The other 4 have been out since at least the 90's.

Thanks Lou, from someone with first hand experience on the different models, your input is worth allot! :)

Bob wrote:


No problem. Between all my scanners and amateur radios, I've tried a lot of different antennas over the years. :)

I am confused, I just got the HP 1....I put on the stock antenna and the reception was awful. I hooked it up to my home outside antenna and it picked up a little better. Then I tried it in the car with the outside car antenna and it was awful again. Then I reprogrammed it and got nothing....I sent it back to exchange for another HP 1, so what would you suggest for me to get when I get the new HP 1? Our area has both 800 digital and VHF analog freqs.

clayfire06 wrote:


I would wait and see how your new HP-1 performs since you already have an outdoor and mobile antenna. Something had to be wrong with your first HP-1.