Comet Original GP-1 146/446 MHz Dual Band Heavy-Duty Fiberglass Vertical Base Antenna - 4' 2", SO-239 Connector

Update 4-7-2024: Still working like a champ. Added photo of SWR / smith graph from range 144-448 MHz and I gotta say it's pretty impressive they can design something like this.High-quality Japanese antenna. It has a good feel to it, seems sturdy and well-engineered. I can pick up repeaters about 50 miles away on 70cm and I am surrounded by buildings. My antenna is mounted about at my 2 story roof line. I am using less than ideal coax so I bet the range could improve with a different line run. Everyone I have talked to through the local repeaters says I have excellent signal and audio.

I bought this antenna due to a few factors, 1) I live in an HOA with satellite height restrictions. 2) Didn't feel like running cable outdoors, and 3) my attic is very short height wise.That being said I had about 4'6" to work with and wanted a great first antenna. This antenna fit the bill hitting all my marks. I screwed the brackets into a couple 2x4s and left a few inches above the top of the antenna to the roof. Then I ran about 25 feet of Shireen RFC400 coax to my office below. I hooked up a Baofeng UV-5R with an adapter for the mean time while I save up for a better radio. Before I had this antenna the HT antenna could listen in on local repeaters if I set it near the wall/window but I couldn't get a solid transmit to be heard. Once I hooked up this antenna I checked in with the local repeaters and worked my way out. I can very clearly hit a repeater 16 miles away (Very flat terrain) with the UV-5R connected to the antenna on the 4w high setting.The overall build of the antenna was stout, no issues with shipping and the antenna was not damaged in any way. Directions to install and connect all the parts were very clear and there is no tuning needed with this antenna. This makes a great first antenna if you are limited in space or budget. The threaded connector came with a plastic cover so the threads were not damaged, as well as all the hard heavy parts came wrapped in foam to not damage any part of the antenna. Paired with good cable this antenna is fantastic! I cannot wait to see its capabilities once I have a much more powerful radio tied to it.

I needed a dual band FM antenna that would go in the attic (HOA restrictions). I've been very pleased with the results, especially on the 2M band. My "installation" isn't totally complete as right now it's mounted on a Christmas tree stand sitting on the rafters just above the fluff. I will soon being moving it about 7-8 feet higher above the air handling units and most of the ducting. I think this is affecting the 70cm band's results. On my in-line SWR meter I never see much above 1:1.5 on 70cm, though the nano VNA results (attached) show much worse.My only regret is that I wish I'd bought the GP-2; there's plenty of room up there and the extra gain would have been nice. I probably will and keep this nice little antenna for camping.UPDATE:Got the GP-1 antenna on a platform above the air handling units now and above most of the ducting now (6-7" higher). Reran the analysis: The 2M band is a lot smoother now. The 70cm band isn't all that much different. I have a MFJ dual band tuner on backorder and I'm sure it will have no issue getting them both tuned 1:1 at any of the frequencies on either band. Raising it did improve some of the more distant repeaters I can hit though, some 40-50 miles away (haven't tried further yet) on the 2M band. 30 miles seems to be a limit on 70cm, but that's pretty good for that band, though there is one at 39 miles I can key. (no signal reports on it yet)

Great antenna with good reports, KD2LJB

I'm using an old Yaesu 2600 radio and it gets out excellent locally. Probably need to cut down a tree to hit repeaters..

Only 42 inches from base to top

Works as describef

This is my second Comet antenna and I am always impressed with the quality of the packaging and product of this brand. This antenna is very easy to assemble and install. Once up on my roof the performance was awesome compared to my old attic setup. I was able to hit the Mt Greylock MA repeater from New Britain CT (75 miles) with some background noise but fully intelligible.I did not use the short bottom tube that comes with the antenna because I wanted to connect the bottom tube directly to the chimney mount instead of having two sets of mounts as the instructions show (cleaner looking - see pic). I took a 4 foot length of galvanized pipe that was the same diameter as the supplied tube and used that. I did have to seal that at the junction of the tube and antenna and drill the screw hole in the top but that was pretty easy.Overall I would highly recommend this antenna to anyone looking for a stealthy and well made dual band base antenna.