MOBILE ANTENNAS
Most Comet mobile antennas over 29″ length have a fold-over hinge built into the base section of the antenna. It is NOT an automatic fold-over, you must manually lift the element up and out of the socket and lay the antenna whip down in order to enter garages, parking structures etc…
It is important that you lift the whip completely up and out of the socket before folding the hinge.
Like any hinge, it will BREAK if it is folded the wrong direction. The hinge rotates 360 deg inside the socket so it will fold in the direction needed.
Many Chinese copies and other look-a-like antennas have very annoying problems associated with their fold-over hinges. The most common is a weak spring. The antena will lift up and out of the socket all by itself at highway speeds! The antenna is unusable when it is laying down and most users need to defeat the hinge or constantly adjust the angle to keep it vertical.
And to be honest, Comet had this problem “initially” as well! The weak spring was almost always a problem with the larger antennas. Comet engineers went to work and re-designed the fold-over. Our larger antennas now have a threaded collar around the hinge: Loosen the collar, lift it up, and the hinge is exposed. No more problem of the antenna spring expanding and the antenna laying down by itself at highway speed!
**Warning** Some antenna companies have copied the Comet fold-over design and improved their fold-over feature, but many have chosen NOT to make the improvement and save the cost.
Gain& Wave:
52MHz 1/4 wave 0dBi
146MHz 1/2 wave 2.15dBi
446MHz 5/8 wave x 2 5.5dBi
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