UHF Radio Antennas

Your choice of antenna is important. For convoy-style touring, where you only would like to speak with and hear from automobiles inside a kilometre or so in front of or behind you, a short rubberised antenna, between 150mm and 300mm, is fine.

However, for long distance work, a full-length aerial, up to 1m in length, is a better choice. The longer antenna can mostly be put away in the car for emergencies, or when camping as a base radio for others in your group. Nonetheless when you get into some more rough country those shorter antennae have another benefit. As they are shorter, the transmission is squashed up and down, forcing the broadcast signal to transform from a principally flat plate-like form to one that generates up and back down as well as horizontally.