Review on High-Gain Dual Band Extendable Antenna AL-800 with SMA-Female Connector for Two-Way Radios by Seth Shea

Over the years I have bought seven of these AL-800 antennas and used them mainly for Baofeng, BTech and other Chinese HTs. They work better on both 2m and 70cm, making these Chinese radios sound much better and their signal goes much further than a standard duck or even a quarter wave whip can get. But within a few months, due to the poor build quality, almost all of them are broken. If you pull the top out, even if you're careful not to try to pull it out after it's already fully pulled out, it tends to pop out forever. The section just below the center load tends to flex very slightly under light loads, preventing it from being fully retracted into the section immediately below, causing it to fully disengage. I will never buy any other of these even though they can be great performers.