I saw a guy at the range who had a very flexible antenna folded and tucked into his plate carrier. But I wondered what that did to the range and the reception.
I guess the plate would interfere somehow.
L
Ah yes... here’s what I found out about those type antennas. There are those which are very, VERY good, and those which are simply imitation junk. Now having said that, I’ve got a buddy and one of his kids is a “special” DoD type. The kid pointed him to a good but affordable antenna type of the sort your referring to, and he bought it. Apparently, it performs QUITE well. I haven’t seen it yet, nor do I know exactly where he got it from or what it cost. BUT, if/when I get those details I can pass them on to you here. :-)
Ya know... you sort of bring up something I’ve been thinking about lately. I’ve got one of the Ailunce HD1s here assigned to my IBA, where I’ve employed a 1m feed line, which threads from where the radio is mounted in a MOLLE connected pouch, around to the back left of the IBA... where an NA-771 antenna is mounted UNDER the MOLLE loops. HOWEVER... it’s plainly observable that if/when I key this radio, that I MYSELF will be almost directly in front of that antenna. I’m not overly concerned at the 3.5W we keep them normally set at, but I AM curious as to how it’s going to perform if I insert the rear SAPI plate. The plates aren’t usually IN the IBA. But you’ve brought up a good point. I NEED to test this with a few in my “peculiar circle”. We KNOW what range is on our HTs in standard configuration, but I think we now need to test using our mounted configurations... on IBA... because it “might” make a difference. It’s worth knowing anyway. :-)