📡 Enhanced TRAM 1480 Base Antenna for Amateur Dual-Band Usage Review

Awesome! Equivalent to Diamond X-200 but cheaper! Mount this on a 2 story house with a satellite mast. It is quite large and visible from the road at about 9 feet tall. Be sure to wrap butyl tape and tape around the center connector. There is a piece of foam in the middle. Just shake the antenna to pull out the stick. I used dielectric grease at the connection points and in the radial holes. Thing is holding up like a champ and really getting out there and picking up APRS packets further than…

Many will say that the tram isn't the same as it used to be. But then again, what about now? As a Ham+GMRS user, this 8ft vertical fiber optic case with dual ribbons has been a benefit to me for quite some time. My first mast is barely 32ft in forested mountains and has taken my ability from zero to hearing (and hitting) a repeater 20+ miles away + 2 mountains on UHF and being able to chat with a friend over one to communicate direction signal. nearly 40 miles on VHF. It has also withstood…

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…

Total disappointment and disappointment. First, the set screw/bolt (#7) that secures the outer support tube (#10) to the lower outer shell (#4) is too large to fit the threads. Moving on to the assembly, the most important fastener is the set screw (#17) that holds the two pieces of radiant element together - it was missing. I managed to find a suitable screw, then found that the piece of wire from the top heatsink went all the way through the bottom fitting (#15) so the set screw caught it…

TL;DR; Perfect 5/7! Pros: - AMAZING SWR on both bands! -Very cheap compared to other well-known offers. -Easy to assemble without instructions if you are mechanically inclined or have good spatial awareness, but the instructions provided were very clear on how to mount the antenna. -Very easy. No problems with picking up the wind or fluctuations in its support. The carving in the antenna itself was well done. It looks like they've swapped out the sintered aluminum parts. BEFORE YOU BEGIN…