Nagoya NA-701 SMA-Male 8-Inch Whip VHF/UHF (144/430Mhz) Antenna for YAESU, Vertex, TYT, and Wouxun Radio

I have purchased two of these, one for a cheap Baofeng radio, and the other for my Kenwood ham radio handheld. I volunteer occaisonaly as a fire-lookout on a 6100' mountain in eastern San Diego County, and decided to try my hand at making contacts using the antenna. Previously, with the stock antennas, I could reliably make contacts 30 miles line-of-sight, but that was about it. With the Nagoya I was able to get into Catalina Island on 2m - 60 miles away. Then a GMRS repeater in Chino, a bit further. Finally I tried Mount Wilson - and had conversations with people all over the Los Angeles basin. Mount Wilson was 92 miles from my location!! I was blown away. I never thought I'd get that kind of distance QRP without a yagi. Signal reports were decent, and my communications were reliable - I was never asked to repeat myself. I would never have imagined that any whip antenna would have improved my range that much. Especially for still being only about 5 watts (less for the Baofeng). As for the size, it is a long antenna. It's flexible, and would fit into a backpack easily, but the length can be an issue with the current crop of handhelds that are virtually palm sized. Because the antenna is 3.5 times longer than my radio is tall, the radio is easily knocked over. And If you drop the radio with this long antenna on it, the base load is quite sturdy and can put enough torque onto the radio's antenna connector that it can break it. Unless you are handy with soldering and fixing things, this can be a costly radio repair. I know, I had to fix mine after it fell and broke. So for general use where I don't need range, the stock antenna goes back on to reduce the chance of this. Overall, this is my new go-to portable antenna for anything where I need range. It is especially impressive given it's price point.

Purchased this antenna for a vertex standard VXA 210 aviation band handheld radio. Fits perfectly and seems to be working great.

This antenna has much better reception and transmission. My dog chewed on the Icom antenna on my radio, so this was ordered to replace it. This fixed a problem I did not know I had on our property. I just assumed I was out of range with the radio's output, but once this replaced the chew toy, wow, it was much better to transmit to the base station.

Great product

This is a big improvement over the 'stock' antenna. It's long enough to be awkward, but it's flexible enough to use in the car. Only thing, as many have said, is the gap between the antenna and the radio. There was an 'O' ring included and I imaging it does provide a seal. The gap is still there. It's cosmetic, but still. I'll be going to the hardware store to get something that will fit better.

Small and lightweight, works well. I can even hit the local 220 repeater with it even though it isn’t listed for 220. It seems to work as well as the antenna that came on the th-f6.

This definitely is a genuine Nagoya antenna. It is so easy to get knockoff antennas these days, but this the real deal. I replaced the factory antenna on my Icom ID-51 with this Nagoya 701 and it has made a world of difference. I wasn't expecting such a big improvement, but I now realize how deaf my radio was with the stock antenna. HT antennas are a compromise to begin with no matter what brand you get but some are definitely better than others such as the case with this one. I would definitely buy this antenna again without hesitation. Much better receive on both vhf and uhf.

Great quality for the price.