17 Best Dual Band Mobile Antenna 2M/70Cm (2023 Updated)

When my old antenna got damaged at the auto repair shop, I decided to upgrade to this antenna. My previous antenna was a single band 2-meter antenna and worked very well but I needed a dual band to compliment my new mobile radio.

This is a super antenna. Short enough to be unobtrusive but long enough to provide plenty of gain. I am now able to “hit” our UHF repeater over 30 miles away. VHF performance is equal to or better than the old dedicated 2-meter antenna I previously was using.

I highly recommend the Diamond NR770HBNMO antenna for both VHF and UHF mobile use.

I have two of these. One chrome and this one, black. Both function as 5/8 wave antennas. Plus: For FM this is a “high power” performer. Its wide band and needs no tuning out of the packaging though you can tune it if you want to, I don’t see any reason to do so.

The instructions are clear its pretuned at the factory and recommends leaving it there. Its got extremely good gain on receive, and on transmit it gets your signal out there. SWR’s are very close to 1:1:1 – 1:5:1 on most frequencies, only noticed an anomaly at the high end of Amateur 70cm band where it exceeded 1.

5:1 a tad. Works well with a mag mount with no discernible difference in SWR’s. Am switching between magmount and lip mount. I’m going to guess that the base of the antenna isn’t so much a loading coil as it is a matching network to achieve the kind of results you get.

I’d hate to throw money away to tear one apart to see what’s inside, so I’ll stick with guesswork. Drawbacks: Its about almost 4 feet tall so it rides on the trunk rather than on the roof. That affects the transmission pattern.

Using an Signal Strength meter around the periphery of the vehicle at VHF the pattern is more signal going out from the trunk rearward than forward. So if you want to point signal North you have your hood pointed South, At 70cm it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference due to the nature of UHF.

Some hams buy the PL-259 style mount to use it with a separate ground plane kit as a base antenna.

I can not say enough good things about this antenna. I let a friend borrow it while I waited for my radio to ship. He was getting excellent signal reports 30 miles from the repeater in mountainous conditions.

Based on the reports of the antenna he and I received 5 other people purchased this same antenna from Dx Engineering in our area.

I took the time to tune this antenna to work on these two frequencies and got 1. 25 swr at 152,000 Mhz and 2. 00 swr at 465,000. In the frequency of the whole band of two meters 1. 00 swr. In 70 centimeters I got 1.

90 swr. In the frequency 500 Mhz 1. 5 swr. Where better tuned was with all parts of the antenna full inputs. My conclusion is that it is not possible to do the tuning with this antenna for these two frequencies at the same time.

If you are looking for an antenna for the frequency 151. 820 Mhz (Swr 1. 25) and at the same time have 144 and 148 Mhz (Swr 1. 00) this is the perfect antenna.

This antenna has excellent propagation qualities. It is nearly flat on both bands and on all power levels (5w to 45w on my radio) with nothing greater than a 1. 3 VSWR (this is better than published for me).

It is mounted on the roof of my Nissan Frontier with a mag-mount NMO. Have had great reports on it from other hams on Simplex. I got it because my other antenna didn’t have the greatest receive. There is a big difference on RX for me, which is good.

Also, according to my antenna analyzer, it tunes up almost flat on 222 MHz as well. nice surprise there.

I had a quad band antenna installed, but realized I only really needed VHF and UHF for what I do. So I decided to try out this antenna. This antenna arrived and the first thing I noticed is how well built the antenna felt.

The materials just felt superior to the quad band antenna I had. It was slightly shorter than my quad band, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. To my surprise simplex range operation on UHF went from 3 miles to almost 7 miles (intermittent with static at 7 miles).

It significantly extended my range. I may buy another one of these to stick in my building, because it worked that good. I haven’t had a chance to test VHF operation, just UHF. Love this antenna!.

Looking for a good durable and affordable dual band antenna, it does have some gain, but it’s not a 5/8 wave, the tram 1181 fills the bill. these are very affordable antennas-around $15-20. unity gain on vhf, and 2.

5db gain on uhf. pre-tuned for the 2m/70cm ham bands. the build quality is good on the nmo base, and the antenna itself is pre-tuned and ready to use. antenna itself is good quality heavy type black coated metal stinger that handles at least 50 watts, as that is what i’m running thru it.

i own 2 of these units and they are broad banded and work just fine for local area repeaters and simplex stations. i haven’t had any problems or issues with either of mine. one is on the car, the other one i’m using on a base kit for a simplex repeater, also running 50 watts.

looking for something that works for your portable or mobile, and don’t, or might not want longer 5/8 wave, and want a lower price too, be sure and check this antenna out. think you’ll be happy and surprised at it.

i was. be great to have an extra one just to have ready in a go bag, or an extra to put on a mag mount on a friends car if going out with them and they don’t have an antenna, quick antenna on a second vehicle your own.

i like my units. and for the price, can’t beat it, with capabilities for both bands-pre-tuned and low swr. i checked mine and that was all i did–didn’t touch or even think about any slight adjustments to it.

was that good! i’m sure these will last for many years for me and do just fine. really nothing to go bad or wrong on them. nice black finish on antenna and the nmo mount. give them a look.

Great low profile dual band antenna. I installed this on my 2013 Prius using the TRAM NMO trunk lip mount and it works great, despite being on the corner of the roof of the car. I did bend the element slightly to keep it vertical since the mount is on the sloping part of the hatch.

Overall, a very good antenna for the money. We’ll see how it holds up over time. I still have some 20+ year old mobile antennas that still work!.

When it comes to vhf n uhf I like to have every ounce of power to the antenna. I precision cut the coax so it has less than a half watt of reflective power. This antenna tuned great on the 2 meter band with less than a half of a watt reflective.

However, the lowest reflective power on the 70cm band was 5 watts.

Delivery and packaging were good. Never found the wrenches but everything else was there. Materials look good. It’s essential to connect the internal antenna rods together using the grub screws. Problem was that these had traveled up inside the outer shells.

Easy fix is to shake the shell or tap gently on the floor until the inner core slides out. Good idea to lubricate all threaded connections. Also, use stretchy “Rescue tape” around the outer shell’s joints to keep out any moisture.

Supplied instructions are adequate but could be better. Radio test heard a repeater over 60 miles away. I’m getting 5/9 reports on local repeaters and simplex using only a 5W HT. So far, so good.

I have one at my vacation home in Yuma. I have this at my summer home in Modesto and I even put one up at my Mom’s house. Best High Gain VHF UHF omni-directional antenna for the price. This is the Tram 1481 antenna.

Do not seal up any holes at the bottom. These holes are called weep holes to let out the condensation. If you want to use pure 100 % silicon chalking on the two top joints. Where the top section screws onto the middle section and the middle section screws together to the bottom section, Go for it.

Day 1 is beautiful. 60 watts on 2m and I can key a repeater 114 miles away, before you say that is impossible I am. 1,670 feet in elevation and I have not had a confirmed contact on that repeater but at 114mi keying it is impressive.

I read water issues on reviews. There is a rubber seal between the sections and the “supplied” wrenches weren’t. Use crescent wrenches or pliers. Obviously hand tight isn’t water tight lol. Time is the true test but at $59 I would easily put it up against units costing $100 more.

Made in USA! Hard to find an American antenna. Well these are made in Phoenix. These are high quality antennas that are ‘top loaded’ which keeps SWR low. Since Wilson Antennas are made in China now I will only use Firestik.

RIP Wilson Antenna formerly of Las Vegas, Nevada.

I was looking for a small antenna that I could mount on the rear corner of my Expedition. I did not want it to stick up above the body of the vehicle and this antenna was the answer. It looks good and performs even better than expected.

Its tough and very well made. Reception is great and I can hear the skip rolling in from all over the US. Tuning is a must but is super easy and fast. SWRs are not perfect but low enough to make me happy.

I would totally buy this antenna again.

I bought this for my Tacoma pickup. I previously had a 4′ firestick, but I just did not like the way it looked. So I bought this one as what I thought would be a compromise, and really didn’t expect it to perform that great.

Was I surprised! The first contact I made with it was skip from Oklahoma to Maine. Sure, I always have a little extra help from a footwarmer, but this antenna is only 2′ long, and is mounted about 5 inches back from the cab on the driver side bed rail! It IS a 5/8 wave antenna, which is good, and it performs as well, or maybe even better than my 4′ 1/2 wave firestick.

And it looks good on the truck! Much cooler look! Now there will be no “oh look, a dorky cb’er with an ugly too long antenna on his truck”. The price is very reasonable also, so give it a try. I don’t think you will be sorry!.

This antenna works great in the vhf and uhf ham bands. No tuning was required. just screwed it onto my existing roof mounted nmo mount. The reflected wattage was nearly virtually flat in the middle of both bands as read on my Telewave thruline watt meter.

I highly recommend this antenna. at a great price too.

Worked perfectly right out of the package. Excellent swr on both bands it was designed for, and even had acceptable swr for the 220 MHz band, as a bonus!

I had the 19 inch Nagoya mag mount antenna and replaced it with the BR-180. as soon as I did I started receiving stronger and unheard signals before from my same location. I also tried using it as a base antenna and it worked great with the Tram model 1465 ground plane base antenna mount.

I did not realise it did not have a standard SO-239 mount but a NMO type fitting. and the only place I could get an adaptor AD-25M to convert a SO-239 mount to accept an antenna with an NMO connector was from the USA.

It has become quite an expensive exercise Also says it has a fold over hinge included. Which is a lie as it has no tilt on the antenna anywhere unless they have glued it down??????.

Have not yet had chance to put it on a meter for fine tuning but it seems to perform very well. I did try the foldover to work but was unsuccessful. I have read in other reviews that foldover is very stubborn.

Previously had a good 30 dollar antenna from a well known manufacturer.

Although I wish the old Antenna Specialist Company was still around (they made some of the best antenna products). As a ham I have been using Larsen antennas for decades. They are a no buyers remorse product.

They are known to be used commercially (Police, Fire, EMS, Taxi, Public Works etc. ). Rarely do you see Comet, Diamond, and other known amateur radio antenna products used in rugged environments. I got a new vehicle and knew I had to poke another hole in the roof so I just bought another Larsen NMO 2/70B.

If you have a less than optimal installation location such as below roof line, this 1/2 wave antenna is the one to get. Even mounted low, the SWR is 1:1 – 1. 3:1 across the 2 meter band. Highly unusual but the numbers don’t lie.

70cm is slightly higher but not enough to justify adjustment. Also works quite well on receive on the air band when nothing else is going on. Highly recommend for no ground plane installations.

Very good gain, and the whip is tough as nails. I have one on my motorcycle, and I’ve never had trouble with it, even after dropping the bike, which bent the whip 45 degrees. I took it out of the base coil, bent it straight, put it back in and kept on going, no problem.

Put some Loctite on the screws that secure the whip in the base coil. They can vibrate loose, I found.

This is my first base antenna so I can’t compare it to others. I am taking the Technicians test in 4 days so I can’t test transmission yet. With a Boefang UV5R I am listening to repeaters that are at least 30 miles away with very clear no noise reception.

Connecting the radio to a battery powered computer speaker works better. The antenna is very well made and was at a bargain price compared to the other 2 brands at higher prices. I wrapped the 2 piece joint with plumbers rescue tape.

My feed line is 30 feet of heavy duty RG8 with PL259 connectors. I don’t have an SWR meter yet. The base of the antenna is 8ft off the ground and elevation here is 2,300 ft. I will give an update if I can when I get a license for transmission quality.

So far I highly recommend this antenna.

Installed the Tram antenna this afternoon up on chimney as high as possible @35 ft. I live in a valley also surrounded by tall trees – even the hurricane winds pass over me. Instantly picked up 5 repeater stations on 2 meters; I had none before with a vertical.

All antenna parts were received and seemed to be very good quality with no defects. I was expecting to find and had to pull the center conductor connector out of the top section by two inches in order to mate the two sections.

I also applied silicone sealant to the outside joining connector as is was a little loose. Assembly was easy (5 minutes), and easy mounting by one person. You can’t buy the materials alone for less than the cost of this antenna – great price @$51.

I highly recommend this antenna to anyone needing a good vertical for 2 meters – along with good coax feed LMR400.

I had one of these up on the tower for 15 years and it has held up and worked great all these years. A couple weeks ago a tree fell on the base of the tower and knocked it down so I bought this new Tram antenna that day.

I have it installed now and it works better (being new I guess) than the old one. That is I easily reach repeaters up to 75 miles away on 50 watts, and have consistent reliable QSO’s with closer repeaters / stations on much less power.

Works very well with my Baofeng UV-5R. The base is adequately large and the magnet is quite strong so it holds on just fine. I’ve had it on the top of my truck for a couple weeks now and it still hasn’t budged.

I do wish that the feed line was a little longer but other than that I think this is a great product if you are just getting into ham radio or don’t want to permanently mount an antenna on your vehicle.

The only thing I regret is getting the SMA-female version. That’s what fits with my HT, but it’s very inconvenient to attach because you have to screw the radio into the connector if that makes any sense.

I would recommend getting the BNC version of this antenna along with an adapter for whatever connector type your radio uses so that connecting the antenna is much quicker and easier.

I already picked up a couple of Baofengs and was impressed with them. I wanted to see how much of a difference this is between the rubber ducky antenna and the Tram 1185 FSMA version. Wow! I can hit repeaters that I was totally deaf to with the antenna on the radio including 2 on the other side of JTNP from my location.

I received zero weather stations and now I hear three. I do not have an SWR meter but it seems to work well on 2 meter and 70cm as well as MURS and GMRS too. If this antenna works this well set on the roof of my car with unity/2dbd I can’t wait to move up to to the Comet 2x4srnmo!.

This antenna has been positively reviewed on ‘other’ websites as well. I have ours matched to Beofeng UV-5R radios, and these Tram 1185-FSMA antenna really work well to reach out even with these simple 5-watt radios.

I’m not a licensed operator yet, but I set the radio on scan mode whenever traveling in the mobile, and it never fails to pick up signals. And I live in a semi-remote area. I highly recommend the Tram 1185.

This antenna does what its intended to do. That is: its a 19. 5 inch, wave, dual band mag mount mobile antenna that hits repeaters on both vhf and uhf within reasonable distances (20-30 miles depending on terrain) extremely well.

The magnet is 3 in diameter and is very strong, able to easily withstand high freeway speeds. Its well built and sturdy, and will stand up to rubbing against some lower lying branches and moderate grazing of an overhead garage door.

At the price, its a real bargain, and will perform at least as well, and usually better, than anything else in this category. It has a 12 foot pl-259 coax cable, so, depending on the size of your vehicle, you may need a 3 foot extender to place it correctly on the vehicle roof.

Recommended.

I just ordered a second Tram 1185 from TexComm. For a small 13 antenna with a 3 1/2 inch mag mount, this antenna does some amazing work with my Anytone AT5888 UVIII Tri-band mobile transceiver in my Jeep.

Now Im able to drive into underground parking structures without having to take my antenna down to prevent damage, just mount it towards the rear of roof. Ive tried many antennas but this one by far does the best work on 2 meters, 220 mhz and 70cm, especially in rough terrain in the Hawaiian Islands.

Yes, its about $30 bucks but well worth every penny. Todd de WH6DWF.

This is a GREAT! Antenna for the price. I work out in the middle of no where where cell service is no where to be seen. This antenna has gotten me linked up and talking with people when I need it. Built very well, the antenna vertical portion is made very well will not bounce or swing in the wind, magnet portion is very strong, coax is nice and thick.

This is not by any means made cheap at all, this thing is made for the long haul. Tram did a great job with this design, it is more of a medium size antenna when fully mounted up right. I have it hooked to a ICOM IC-2000 and running 50 watts this antenna does wonders, SWR is low 1:1 to 1:2 sometimes really never seen it go any higher than that.

Great antenna buy one you will love it.

I’ve had the Tram 1180 for a couple of years. It does the job well and has not weathered perceptibly in the time I’ve had it on the car. The structural wire is pretty thin but I’ve not had any problems on that account.

I’ve run into the garage door a few times and bent it over with no lasting effect though I do wish it were a bit more stout in the bottom section just to minimize the rocking action under some driving conditions.

Since it is dual-band, it is more troublesome to tune since you have to go back and forth to find the minima for both bands but you can get a very low SWR on both 70cm and 2m if you persist. It has held up at 50W but I can’t testify to anything beyond that power level.

If I were buying for my other car I’d get another.

Gain is similar to my JETSTREAM JTM3BM that does not have a load and is the same cost. Might be better to go with the MFJ design as its a simpler. I tested this antenna and my MFJ 3BM mag mount in my walk out basement with them mounted horizontally on some metal wall cabinets.

Signal strength was 30 over for both from a VHF repeater 3 miles away. Rx S meter showed 40+ on my MFJ 1480 outside. I’d say this antenna works pretty good.

This is my third 1180 antenna. It has < 1. 3:1 SWR on both 2 meters and 70 cm. It is a well built durable mobile antenna that with a ground plane can also serve as a temporary portable antenna. The NMO mounts makes installation and removal quick and easy.

What a neat little thing! The antenna seems to be adequately built for the price, and also has great SWR! I wouldn’t expect an antenna this cheap to hit below 1. 5 SWR but this actually surprised me! I found that this antenna gets 1.

1 to 1. 4 SWR across the 2M band and similar results on the 70cm band. It is very flexible too. I have this mounted on my 1991 chevy about 2 ft in front of my standard FM radio aerial, and this guy is sometimes bent so far back while i’m driving that is gently taps the FM aerial.

Actually, I should probably move it forward a bit so I don’t accidentally blow out my radio with the high RF. I recommend this antenna for anyone trying to get on the air quickly and cheaply. I may update this post when I get a few contacts.

The only problem is the lower rod is too small in diameter. The whole antenna wanders around as I drive. I have some bigger rod. I may drill out the base and center load to accept the larger rod. What a way to save on material! Add $3 to the price and have the Chinese use bigger stock.

The gain on UHF is less than a 1/4 wave spike because the antenna won’t stand straight up driving 70 mph. I will give you a + on feedback, but won’t encourage anyone else to buy one. I will probably give it to a fellow ham.

Been doing mobile antennas since 1949. FS.

I gave it 5 star rating because the product works very well for the price paid. Although I was a little disappointed in how flexible the antenna wire is. It doesnt seem cheap but it is real flexible and moves around quite a bit if you drive rough roads.

You can notice a slight bit of fluctuation in receiving if its really whipping around but is not a deal breaker! So all in all I am happy.

This is a great product with a substantially larger mounting surface than the antenna it replaced. As delivered, this should hold up better than others Ive had. Ive given it 4 stars only because my experiences with glass mounted antennas has led me to modify it slightly.

The modification is necessary because of automatic car washes. Rotating brushes will eventually overpower the adhesive and rip the antenna and mount off the glass. Unscrewing the antenna every time my truck is washed is not only time consuming but eventually wears the fine brass threads reducing a secure connection and conductivity.

Loosening the mount and lowering the antenna so its facing downward out of the way of brushes is a much better solution. As delivered, a philips screwdriver is required to lock the antenna into position.

Ive found an Allen wrench is a better tool for this if its going to be done often (I wash my truck 2 or 3 times a month). If a more easily adjusted locking bolt were to replace the Philips, I would gladly give the antenna 5 staris.

Note: Ive also added a (modified) wing nut so I can use my fingers and rely on the allen bolt for additional grip on long trips or visits through parking ramps. Ive attempted to add a photo of what I described but was unable to.

Ifthat gets fixed, Ill add it.

This antenna was easy to install and tweaking the tuning was a breeze with my analyzer. My contacts said it was ‘full quieting’ and I’ve had no issues with it mounted on my factory installed side window.

It was nice to be able to park in the garage without having to remember to remove the antenna every time. I already recommended this antenna to several of my friends.

Two meter dual through window antenna. Installed easily. What’s more is installed on. 2022 Ford Escape with factory installed tinted windows. Yea emission and reception very good!

I purchased this antenna a few weeks ago. The day I installed the antenna I called out for a radio check. I got a response from someone 35 miles away from my location. Finally last week I took my boat out onto Lake Erie.

The antenna did not disappoint. I called one of my boating friends who was 25 miles away. They heard me and responded. While crossing the lake I was listening in to both sides of a conversation that was happening 37 miles from my location.

The performance of this antenna does not disappoint at all.

I had to buy a new antanae recently for my Trophy fishing boat because of my own failure to lower the original 8 ft ear which was snapped by a tree branch. This new one is replacing one that was on since 1994 so materials and technology is much superior to the original.

Installation was easy because holes and mounting gear already in place. Signal is clear. Pricey but at what cost is your safety worth? More than the price of this thing for sure.

The Sheakespeare 8900 is an amazing Marine VHF Antenna. Reception is clear and signal is solid! Your VHF radio is only as good as the antenna that is transmitting. I went the extra cost due to the fact that I don’t nickel and dime safety when time might play a factor in an emergency situation.

Very happy over my purchase and pleased with the gold plated connector! I also like the thickness of the antenna. Very durable and quality made. Also, remember to get a Free MMSI # at BoatUS and program it into your VHF as well as connecting your VHF to your chartplotter!.

great upgrade for my boat. 6db provides the perfect gain for my boat. Do you homework, not all antennas are created equal and db gain is critical. This Shakespeare antenna is made very well with brass and copper elements.

If you look around, you find another 8′ Shakespeare antenna at less than half the price of this one. There’s a reason for that and the reason is a big step up in quality components. A high quality antenna is needed on every boat.

You never know if your life might depend upon someone hearing you in an emergency situation.

I am sure it is a great antenna, but the two piece description is a little misleading. Yes the top and bottom screw apart, but you cannot separate them as the transmission cable has no connector to enable you to do so.

If you need total separation as I did you need the slightly more expensive 6018-R Phase III.

Great product. This was a replacement for an older and shorter Shakespeare antenna. Good clear reception and transmission. If you are installing it yourself, you’ll need a soldering station to make sure the electrical connections are solid.

It will require you have some basic skills for this.