Harvest BC-200H 220-225 Mhz 5dBi 200W 1.25 Meter Pre-Tuned VHF Base Antenna

This is a great 220 base antenna. I cay say for its durability it is tough too why saying that I had it up at 25ft we had strong winds took down the antenna. Did not break but two if the graound plane elements bent only very little. Was able to straighten the elements out then set it back up but at 5ft instead of 25ft and this antenna works at 5ft! Amazing. If you are a Ham and if you want to get on 220 band then I recomend this antenna. It's not that expensive so for the money it is a good 220 base antenna. 73...

I had concern about all the negative reviews regarding the short ground plane radials and high SWR. What I've noticed is not the problem they had I have had no problems and a SWR less than 1.5 to 1 across the entire 220 band. Testing conditions were antenna connected on top of a 25 ft aluminum Pole with 50 ft of 400 ultraflex 50 ohm coax. The quality of the antenna is great considering the low cost. I would not hesitate to buy this again. As you can see in the picture the analyzer shows no problem with the 6-in ground plane radials. Even a Google search also shows 8 inch radials will work just fine on a vertical antenna. Taken from a Google search: "Ground Radials may be resonant 1/4 wavelength long, but they may also be shorter; even as short as 1/8 wavelength long and still be effective." Next test will be connecting to my radio and functional test.

I haven't yet tried the antenna as I'm planning on it during an upcoming trip with my RV. The construction is much cleaner than Tram. Has 1 3/4 in U-bolts that won't fit standard push-up masts. I had to buy after market.

Works good. Got it up about 20 feet on the tower and works really good. The swr is low on the antenna analyzer. I ran 9913 coax to it and running it off of a retevis rt9000D radio for now.

The antenna was easy to install an after installation. The SWR was in range. Antenna has been working well since it was installed.

The antenna has a pretty bad rain seal. It does not work with very high return loss during a rain storm . I have taken the antenna down and applied silicone seal to the metal top and also where the already sealed coaxial connector of my feed line. I hope this solves the trouble. I have over 30 years experience installing antennas for the State of California Communications Department . This is the first commercial antenna that has had this problem. I have several hundred good installations of this type antenna in the entire weather patterns in the entire state of California.

Quality item, good price point

As others have pointed out the radials were too short. I bought this thinking it was a fluke as half the reviews said it worked perfectly. I’ve been communicating with the seller for 9 days trying to explain antenna theory and how for 220 the radials need to be 12.6” long. I was sent 6” radials and I’ve been trying to explain all I want are three metal rods with threads 12.6” long. I can’t seem to get through to whoever is running their Amazon chat that this isn’t resonant at 222MHz. Otherwise the antenna is of a good quality which is the only reason for 2 stars. I can hear and hit repeaters but one repeater 15 miles away (that I can hit day and night easily with 2m transceiver and antenna) I can hit in 220 at night and barely pick up in the day. Unacceptable as I know the antenna isn’t resonant at 222 as advertised, it’s causing performance issues. Until the seller sends me the appropriate radials my review stands as it is. I have a buddy coming at some point with an antenna analyzer to get a better picture of what’s happening. Unless the analyzer says I’m fine I’ll keep the review as it is. I don’t want to go to Home Depot and buy/cut threaded rod if I bought a 220 antenna. I expect the seller to provide the appropriate radials. UPDATE: put an analyzer on it. The first image with the thumb shows the antenna with the radials supplied in middle of the 1.25 band at 223.5 +/- 1.5 MHz. The SWR is unacceptable at 2.6+/1. I then made radials at 12.6” long and the second image shows the SWR at 2.0/1 to 1.3/1 across the spectrum. Not perfect, I should’ve made them longer. However this shows proof of concept that the radials are too short for this antenna. The seller is sending me replacement radials but they are going to be 13cm long. Again, too short for this frequency.m Edit 2: third picture shows the SWR after we added about 10” of copper wire wrapped around the antenna. Now the SWR is acceptable below 1.5/1. Confirmed the radials are too short. However making ones to fit is completely possible. PS the threads are metric M6x1.0 if you wish to make your own radials.