Specs & Ratings
Bottom Line
The N9TAX Slim Jim Antenna is an amazing outdoor dual band antenna with exceptional performance, especially for the $37 price tag
Pros
- Light weight
- Decently Durable
- Exceptional SWR Performance on it's intended bands.
- The VHF/UHF Antenna was even a reasonable SWR at GMRS frequencies and may just be able to operate there in a pinch.
Cons
- Could be built a bit more robust, but then it would weigh more.
- Feels like at some point it will fatigue from folding/unfolding.
- Some exposed elements. Easy to cover with liquid electrical tape.
Who This Is For
Primarily we see this used by outdoor enthusiasts, but it could be used in a variety of other situations where hanging is the best option available to you, such as from an attic rafter.
Detailed Review
So you'd be hard pressed to not have heard about the N9tax Slim Jim antenna by now. It's a popular antenna amongst a wide variety of crowds and use cases. While you can use this antenna for all sorts of things, but we see it primarily being used for outdoors operations... and so we picked up an N9TAX dual band VHF/UHF antenna, an arborist throw bag and some lightweight and light duty plastic carabiners and then went into our backyard and chucked the Antenna up into a tree!
With our line tossed over a 20 foot high or so branch, we took to "housting" our antenna up above the ground. We of course quote Hoisting, because this antenna is LIGHT and it goes up effortlessly.
With the Antenna sufficiently in the air, we first took a quick sweep with our NanoVNA antenna analyzer, and then promptly up connected our trusty Icom ID-52 Plus to start making some contacts! The NanoSWR results were pretty impressive for our needs, with the Dual Band VHF/UHF showing a great impedance match across both bands and even showing that it could probably survive for GMRS usage. Color us impressed!
Next up we made a few contacts on 146.520 (National VHF calling frequency) before working some of the regional UHF and VHF that were about 20-30 miles away. There were no issues there and our signal reports were phenomenal... which is both expected because we've got a good antenna high up, but still commendable since we were only pushing 5w!
To wrap up our initial field test of the N9TAX antenna, we joined our local clubs daily traffic net, and had crystal clear RX and TX through the entire event.
Now this is Real Radio Reviews, and we don't really like to review an antenna based on how it handles just once. However, our initial experience was so darn promising we just had to publish our findings!
For that reason, this article will serve as an ongoing review. We've got some fun plans with it this winter such as taking it skiing and chucking it in some trees for contacts, maybe some late season camping tree based contacts and I'm sure we'll find several other reasons to chuck this puppy up into a tree just because it's fun to do so!
Measured Wattage and SWR
Measuring Device: NanoaVNA with NanoVNASaver
***measuring SWR with an inline device is imperfect, but has some value especially as we test every handheld radio the exact same way.
Accessories we recommend
We recommend you get the following two things for this if you're going to be chuck this up into a tree.
First off, if you're going to be chuck this up into something, we highly recommend an arborist throw line kit. We bought the Aystkniet Arborist Throw Line Kit from Amazon and it's a great piece of kit for the price. Just tie the very thin and slick line onto the surprisingly stout weight and chuck it up into a tree! There's even enough room in the bag afterwards to put your N9TAX antenna, making it an all in one ready to go kit. One piece of advice though, when pulling the line back over the tree branch, the weight itself can get stuck. However, if you untie the weight before you pull the rope back up through the tree you'll have a far easier time getting the rope back out!
When you purchase your N9TAX, you can purchase hooks with it. We bought one to see what it was about, and honestly... we can't endorse it. However, what we think is FAR better are these simple plastic carabiners from Breakwater Supply. They're just plastic and not all that tough... but that's for the best since the N9TAX is lightweight and you just don't need the extra material, especially possibly METAL messing with your antenna resonance. Added bonus, you can get them in Orange to match the orange arborist line above, which we approve of since ropes hanging in the woods that folks can't see can be a tripping hazard or worse.
Final Verdict
The N9TAX is great for the outdoor operator. Whether you're going to chuck these up in a tree camping, skiing, hunting, or for POTA, these are killer antennas.
Also... Stay tuned for a future article where we take the GMRS specific Slim Jim and use it as part of a light weight deployable GMRS repeater!