For those who use handheld radios (GMRS or Ham Radio) are familiar with Nagoya and their super popular $20 Nagoya 771 antenna which spawned so many clones by other companies trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Nagoya 771.
Known for their quality but very affordable antennas, today I am reviewing the Nagoya NMO-HDG Heavy Duty GMRS (462/467 MHz) Antenna. This is an official Nagoya antenna sold by BTECH and is a GMRS antenna that is 462/467 MHz and is tuned precisely by Nagoya for GMRS frequencies.
The height is about 47.2 in size and is great for mobile or base station installations.
The antenna supports up to 200W of power and the antenna has a 135 mph wind rating and this antenna requires no ground plane required. It’s well constructed and but of course, it all comes down to SWF.
Do know that this antenna also comes with mounting brackets and an NMO to UHF connector (the connector on the antenna is a SO-239 adapter, so you can connect to 50 ohm coax cable with a PL-259 ie. UHF Connector). So, find yourself a good RG8x Coaxial Cable with PL259 Male. At the radio end, you will need an adapter, so you will need an SMA female to SO-239 adapter.
Now, it’s important to note, you are going to see differences of opinion, those who have the devices to measure SWR (Standing Wave Ratio). This is important because they can see if power coming from the radio is traveling through the antenna system correctly. If it’s poor for transmit and receive, then it can damage your radio. So, when the signal does not travel through the antenna correctly, the transmit power is reflected back to your radio. Thus the reason why you will notice people discussing the SWR for this antenna.
You definitely want to have a meter to read your SWR levels. So, if you plan to use this heavy duty antenna, you may want to invest in a meter that can read SWR levels.
It’s ideal to have SWR under 1.5. An SWR of 2.0-2./4 won’t damage your radio but anything over 2.5 is not good. Never transmit if the SWR levels are over 3.0.
So, my SWR tests are as follows. This antenna which is 462/467 MHz had the following: 1.8 SWR at 466 MHz at the minimum, but its highest reading came at 3.3 at 462 MHz. Bare in mind, this could have been due to the fact, the antenna was not put up at a higher level. There are other factors that come into play.
Unfortunately, a lot of antennas are YMMV. The reviews of this antenna are mixed, so it shows there are different consistency to what people are getting (or their meters are not calibrated). So, if you are planning to purchase this antenna, may it be for repeater or simplex usage, definitely have an SWF meter to test the antenna and see how it rates in SWR, just in case you need to return it and to prevent any damage to your transceiver.
But do know that Nagoya is a reputable brand but as you can see from other reviews, for the NMO-HDG, make sure you do your due diligence and see if you have a good or bad Nagoya NMO-HDG Heavy Duty GMRS (462/467 MHz) Antenna.
