Review on Tram 140MHz-170MHz + 430MHz-470MHz Dual Band NMO Antenna (1181): Efficient Wireless Communication Solution by Carlos Phillips

I bought this antenna for backup use with a 2m/70cm dual band radio and VHF marine radio on a sailboat. The antenna is mounted on a rail about 10 feet above the water. It replaced the damaged Diamond antenna and Shakespeare VHF antenna. The antenna connects to two radios (Yaesu 7900 and Icom Marine VHF radio) via an A/B switch. Neither the tram nor the diamond antenna (both NMO mounts) were intended for use on boats. The Diamond antenna has never had a problem connecting to high level repeaters up to 80 miles away without a proper ground plane. With Tram I came to the same remote relay. After conducting low power simplex radio tests using the FT-60r with another ham radio operator at 2 meters away at 20 miles with a 0 gain Tram antenna compared to a brand new 5/3 dB gain Diamond. 8 wave antenna with the same coaxial cable and mount, Tram's signal quality is said to be better than Diamond's. I had the same report at 70cm. I was able to test the iComm Marine VHF radio by sending it to a test station which will rebroadcast your transmission. In this test, I could not transmit with different antennas using the same mount and coaxial cable because they have different bases. At low power I could not tell any difference between the two antennas. Shakespeare's antenna is also mounted much higher than that of the tram. Overall I'm very pleased (to be honest I'm shocked!) with the work Tram has done. After more than a month in salt water, the antenna showed no signs of corrosion. Time will of course be the final judge. My Diamond lasted 3 years before it expired. I bought a new Diamond antenna anyway, I just don't leave it on when not in use. Will i buy it again? Yes. I'll buy another tram if the salty air eats up this antenna as I'm sure it will eventually.