Getting the most use out of the Baofeng UV5R radios.
The Baofeng UV-5R radios have created quite a stir in the different radio communities, from Amateur Radio operators to FRS/GMRS enthusiasts and active police scanner users, but how can you possibly get the best coverage from a single antenna to use all the frequencies that are available for the UV5R ?
Wide band Coverage.
The Baofeng Radios that are out on the market have very wide receive capabilities. To top it off, the radio also covers the FM broadcast band from 88 MHZ to 108MHZ. Although it will not transmit on these frequencies, you are still going to want the most coverage available.
Enter the wideband discone antenna.
The Discone antenna is a very wideband antenna that covers 25 - 1300 MHz for scanners/receive. It can also be used for transmit at 144, 220, 440, 900 and 1290 amateur radio bands.
But just how well does it work ?
The SKYBAND base antenna available at ScannerMaster works as a 1/4w antenna on the 2M amateur Radio band, with low DBd gain. OK, that will NOT give you a monster signal on the airwaves, but is still quite usable with a low take off angle, giving decent coverage up to 25 miles. On 440 MHZ the gain is much better. In the FRS bands you can expect to have a range of up to 40 miles with this antenna mounted outside and a 5W Baofeng Radio. Just remember that the baofeng is illegal to use on the FRS channels. It is NOT illegal to listen.