We’ve found that GMRS handheld radios can come in very handy for keeping in touch out in the backcountry, where there are (thankfully) still not that many cell phone towers. Handhelds like our Baofeng UV-9G and GM-15, allow us to keep in touch in places like Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument in Utah, up to several miles away from base camp, without all the other distractions that having a cellular signal comes with. Should we ever need to call for help, or even to keep in touch with other off-road travelers, we can even use open-system mountaintop GMRS repeaters to call other two-way radios over hundreds of square miles if we need to.
Five-watt handheld radios like our Baofeng UV-9G normally work very well for most uses, but they lack the power of 50 watt fixed-mount mobile units, which is why we sometimes attach a “high gain” GMRS handheld antenna, like the Nagoya NA-771G to boost our radio’s range. There are also GMRS “tape antennas” or folding tactical antennas, such as the Abbree AR-152, that also work very well to boost a five-watt handheld GMRS radio’s range in marginal situations.
In this review we compared the NA-77G to our Baofeng’s stock antenna, as well as to a slightly longer Abbree tactical GMRS model.
Why Use a Single-Band High Gain Antenna For Your GMRS Handheld?
A typical GMRS handheld comes with a short 1/4 wave antenna or modified 5/8 wave that utilizes coiled wire underneath all that plastic to make it electrically “longer”. While this artificial “lengthening process” does make the antenna more compact and easier to use, the trade-off is that it makes it less efficient.
The Boost You Need For GMRS Handhelds – When you want to talk farther using a high-gain 5/8 wave antenna on your handheld is simply more efficient than a 1/4 wave rubber-duck or modified 5/8 wave. An antenna like the Nagoya NA-771G offers up to 3 dB gain over a half-wave dipole and 4.75 dB over a 1/4 wave antenna like the one that probably came with your handheld GMRS radio.
How Much More Range? – In our experience – this is not based on any scientific tests – our handhelds tend to receive better and talk about 20-30% farther with a 5/8 wave vs. 1/4 wave antenna.
The Nagoya 771G is Tuned For GMRS Radio, Not Dual-Band Ham Models
Many inexpensive imported GMRS radios, like the Baofeng UV-9G and GMRS-9R are sold with dual-band VHF/UHF antennas that aren’t tuned for 462 MHz, and which may have cause high SWR (Standing Wave Ratio). We’ve measured some of these and found readings as high as 3.0 (not good) on GMRS frequencies. Below are actual readings taken from the Nagoya NA-771G and Abbree AR-152 models which we compared in this post. The 15.5″ Nagoya NA-771G measured 1.0 (perfect), while the 18.89″ Abbree tactical GMRS measured 1.15, (also very good).
Longer Antennas Offer Better GMRS Handheld Range, But Are They Really Practical?
We recently field tested both the Nagoya NA77G and the Abbree AR152 extended range GMRS handheld antennas to see which would be more practical for day-to-day use. Both offer approximately 3 dBi gain but because they’re longer, they aren’t as easy to use for day-to-day radio communications. Yet, when you really need your GMRS handheld radio to reach out as far as it possibly can, these are very handy to have. We’ve messed around quite a bit with these antennas around our home area in Austin, TX, as well as up in Colorado and New Mexico on our last trip, and found them very effective.
Nerd Stuff: According to QSL.net*, a 5/8 wave vertical antenna will radiate your signal out in a pattern that’s about 16 degrees relative to the horizon vs. a theoretical 1/2 wave dipole antenna, which radiates RF power in a 20 degree pattern. For GMRS radios, 5/8 antennas work very well in outdoor applications because they radiate more of your signal outward in a narrower band, sending a stronger signal towards the radio you want to communicate with.
An analogy would be trying to signal someone across a few miles of desert with a signal mirror vs. the bottom of a beer can. One focuses energy better than another, for a longer range signal.
Field Test of Both the Nagoya NA-771G and Abbree AR-152 Antennas
A while back we purchased an Abbree AR-152 tactical GMRS antenna and took it for a little hike up Mt. Elbert in Colorado at 14,440‘ elevation, where we were able to talk to another licensed GMRS user through a repeater located just over 100 miles away! Whether this extreme range was just a fluke, or just a normal occurrence at this altitude, we were nonetheless very impressed with the Abbree AR-152 GMRS tactical antenna’s capability vs. our stock antenna. Before swapping out handheld’s original antenna for it we couldn’t hit the same repeater.
We also carried along the Nagoya NA-771G on our climb and after swapping it out for the Abbree tactical model got the same results with the distant GMRS repeater from the same spot.
While we really loved the performance of the $9 Abbree tactical GMRS antenna, the reality of its size on our handheld was just a bit much, which is why we swapped it out for a Nagoya NA-771G, a shorter 5/8 wave handheld GMRS radio antenna with just as much gain.
“You Could Put Your Eye Out…”
At another spot, this time in the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft New Mexico, we tried them again and couldn’t really see much difference between the Abbree and Nagoya GMRS antennas when it came to talking back to our base camp from approximately 7 miles away, which we couldn’t do with our stock antenna.
Both the Nagoya and Abbree models of range-boosting GMRS handheld antennas performed very well in terms of signal gain, but one was just much easier to use – that was the Nagoya NA-771G.
The Bottom Line: For 95% of the time, your handheld radio’s short stock antenna will probably be enough for normal communications. But, when you’re farther away from camp and need an extra “boost” a high-gain GMRS handheld radio antenna like the Nagoya NA-771G can mean the difference between your signal being readable or buried in static. In these cases, it’s much easier to carry and use a Nagoya NA-771G than a more bulky tactical antenna like the Abbree AR-152, even if the latter looks really cool.
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Both are great alternatives to your radio’s stock antenna, but neither is really that practical for pocket carry or normal use where they’re not needed for extra range. If you had to choose only one long-range handheld antenna to keep on hand in a backpack or vehicle, it’s probably better to go with the more manageable Nagoya NA-771G.
As for durability, we don’t have any idea how many times the Abbree tactical antenna could be folded over, but at some point this is probably going to cause it to break, which is something the Nagoya-771G is very unlikely to ever do. The fact that the Nagoya G series are perfectly tuned for 462 MHZ GMRS frequencies and deliver the lowest SWR reading is another reason we chose the Nagoya NA-771G as the winner over the Abbree tactical antenna.
Still, we don’t use it all the time, just when we need extra range. For normal situations our Nagoya NA-701G (also a single band antenna tuned for GMRS) works just fine and also has perfect SWR of 1.0.
We hope this post was helpful for anyone who has been considering a high-gain GMRS handheld antenna for situations where extended range is needed. When purchasing Nagoya antennas or any other GMRS gear, be sure you’re not getting a fake, knock-off, which there are quite a few out there. It’s always best to purchase from the manufacturer’s website or official Amazon store to avoid fake GMRS radio gear.
GMRS radios require an easy to obtain license that costs only $35 for 10 years and covers all your family members. For more info see our post How to Get a GMRS License
Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links to products we recommend.
* Article References: https://www.qsl.net/w4sat/five8th.htm
