Products & Product Reviews

New Product Spotlight: COMPACtenna CompacCounterpoise and Land Mobile Radio Antenna

Posted by on November 8, 2021 at 1:12 pm

Fans of COMPACtenna’s line of small, monoband and multiband antennas already know what a smart choice they make for HOAs, condos, apartments, mounted on a vehicle, or for anywhere that a standard antenna won’t fit or may draw the evil eye from a non-ham neighbor. These unobtrusive antennas are designed for high performance in tight spaces (closets, attics, etc.) using a small 3 foot x 3 foot metal ground plane with no tuning required.

Not familiar with COMPACtenna? Before we tackle the new stuff, take a moment to check out what you’re missing at DXEngineering.com, including:

What do hams say?

Five Stars: “I have this (2M/220/240 antenna) mounted on the rear corner of a metal roof rack on my SUV. I have great SWR and reach repeaters on the 1.25M/220MHz about 20 miles away. The size is what makes it an excellent product and the tri-band coverage! I would definitely recommend to someone looking for a tri-band mobile antenna in a small package.”

Now for the new stuff!

CompacCounterpoise NMO Mount Base Station Ground Plane

This kit turns your COMPACtenna antennas into sturdy and stealthy base stations. Add the provided radials to optimize signals and SWR for UHF/VHF operation, with a maximum power rating of 250 watts (up to 225 MHz) and 100 watts on higher frequencies. The kit comes with 3 inch diameter mounting plate with mast bracket, clamps, four 18 inch radials, and stainless steel hardware. It works with many monoband or multiband NMO-mount antennas, including COMPACtenna’s 2M-440, 2M-220-440, SCAN-III, and the new LMR-I Land Mobile Radio Antenna (below).

LMR-I Land Mobile Radio Antenna

Designed for government and commercial applications, the LMR-I is a high-performance, low-profile 9 inch cylindrical radome-style mobile antenna with three optimized frequency ranges:

  •  High VHF 136-174 MHz
  •  Low UHF 378-512 MHz
  •  High UHF 750-960 MHz

The LMR-I works for analog and digital operation modes for these applications:

  • Police
  • Fire
  • Emergency Medical
  • State Highway Patrol
  • Homeland Security
  • U.S. Federal
  • Military
  • Business-Commercial

It features a power rating of 100W VHF/75W UHF and reliable leaf-spring- style NMO mount base for standard center-stud style NMO mobile mounts. You can use the LMR-I for vehicular communications or add the CompacCounterpoise for base station/repeater operations (30W maximum at the antenna).

Other benefits include:

  • Gain of 3 dBi, nominal (performance greater than predicted based on gain alone in non-line-of-sight environments
  • SWR, nominal: < 2.1:1 140-162 MHz, 400-500 MHz, 750-960 MHz; <2.5:1 136-140 MHz, 162-174 MHz, 378-400 MHz, 500-512 MHz. Best SWR on VHF frequencies when LMR-I antenna is mounted on an upper corner of a vehicle, NOT center mounted. Flat style magnetic mounts provide the best SWR results. SWR varies with size and shape of the vehicle.

How Does it Work?

The COMPACtenna LMR-I uses a unique Electric-Magnetic Field Diversity design. High-performance omni-directional coverage is achieved far beyond what would be expected for the antenna size. The multi-faceted geometric design of the antenna includes extended flat mono-filar spiral Tesla-like coils that serve as the LCR matching system, resonating as an integral part of the signal field generation. No external or internal electronic lossy matching components are used. This design establishes diverse electromagnetic fields, resulting in signal stability and performance greater than expected in non-line-of-sight environments, reducing the effects of ionospheric polarization shifts.

There’s more!

Also check out this video demonstrating the performance of COMPACTenna’s new 9 inch 2M/440PLUS model.

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