As any experienced ham already understands, propagation is important, but having a good antenna is also critical. If you’re running a Yaesu mobile radio, then you might be interested in this antenna: Yaesu ATAS-120A 40 Meter through 70cm Auto Tune Motorized HF/VHF/UHF Antenna For FT-857D, FT-450DandFT-897D ATAS-120.

I was listening to a ham in the state of Florida calling CQ and immediately another ham in Italy responded. Five by nine plus was the signal report the Italian ham gave to the ham in Florida. I was impressed for sure.

The amateur radio operator explained that he was living in an establishment with heavy antenna restrictions and anything out of the ordinary wasn’t acceptable. This antenna fit the bill.

Yes, I was impressed with the antenna and the ham stated that he was transmitting with only 50 watts! The radio he was using was the Yaesu FT-857, of which the audio sounded rather nice. His microphone was the famous Yaesu MD-100 microphone, and anybody has heard this mic knows it has good tone quality.

The antenna works with the following models: FT-857D, FT-991, FT-897D, FT-450D, FT-450AT, FT-450, FT-100D, FT-100, FT-857 only.

Covers HF thru UHF, Self-Tuning motorized Transceiver Mobile Antenna (40 Meters through 450Mhz).