Message #486801

[Bryant]

Ok, so I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon doing some testing of my own.  I took six collars and hung thema few feet apart down my fence line, labeled each one number 1-6 on the handheld and went for a drive.  Getting mixed results and had to collars that were dropping off at a few hundred yards.  Went back to the house and took apart a DC40 that was loosing signal at 400-500 yards.  I found that the antenna was broke under the clamp that is held on by the two screws.

Upon further investigation, I found that three other collars had the (factory) antennas broke in various places along the length.

I decided the only way to get a true comparison was to use one single collar and change the various antennas I had on that collar.  I had a factory antenna, one I had purchased at Uncle Earls last year from a well-known vendor which was sold as a "long-range" antenna, and an antenna I made from 18" of 14 gauge stranded copper wire which I crimped an o-ring connector on one end.

All said and done, the factory antenna out performed the other two.  Second (but not by much) was the antenna I made, and last (with a very dissappointing range) was the "long-range" antenna I had bought.  That one actually went in the trash.  It was made of stainless coated cable with an o-ring attached.  Seems like the copper material works better, as the ones I made work significatly better than that one.

As it stands, I have two colars with factory antennas, and five with the antennas I made yesterday.  They all seem to be working very well.

I guess what I learned is that nothing I tried out performed the factory antenna....however the factory ones are a bit brittle.