Review on 📡 Enhanced TRAM 1480 Base Antenna for Amateur Dual-Band Usage by Carlos Phillips

This is a fantastic antenna for the money. The package includes all the necessary equipment for antenna assembly and mast mounting. Assembly without instructions may seem intuitive, but be sure to read the assembly instructions. In order to join the two parts of the heatsink, the heatsink halves must be fastened with the supplied set screw. At first glance, it may appear that they are simply sliding together, resulting in incorrect SWR readings. After reassembling correctly, the SWR was acceptable at 2M without any adjustments. 1.4:1 at the low end of the range, 1.1 at 145.5 and 1.7 at the high end of the range. It didn't seem to require any adjustments. However, the 70cm tape required some work. Because of the price I only bought this antenna for 2M operation. For the cost out of the box, I'm not sure it could be any better. Mounted 5 feet above a one-story roof in suburban San Diego, it can clearly hit repeaters along the coast in Orange County and Los Angeles. If the 70cm curve was a little more acceptable this would be a five star purchase. The included SWR curves were tested with the antenna as shown in the figure (approximately 15 feet off the ground) as measured at the radio connected to a 50 foot LMR-400 cable.