On 23-Jul-2009, Roy Lewallen wrote:

The Diamond X50A has a somewhat higher gain than the Arrow on 2 meters
(about 2 dB higher, if I'm reading the stats correctly) and a
significantly higher gain than the Arrow on 70 cm (about 5 dB higher).

The Arrow is about 6" shorter than the Diamond (might fit into an
attic space where the Diamond will not), has been tested at power
levels of up to a kilowatt (the Diamond is rated for 200 watts), and
costs only 40% as much as the Diamond. . .

Wow, 5 dB extra gain for an extra quarter wavelength, and 2 dB for an
extra 7/100 wavelength of size. That's quite a trick!

Do you maybe mean to say that the Diamond has a somewhat higher
*claimed* gain than the Arrow? If we're looking for high claimed gains
(and claimed power handling capability for that matter), some of the CB
whips should take the prize.

I don't know what the actual gain is, but Diamond has been in business a long time, and I've never
seen any reports of them misreporting gains.

Does the Arrow have any gain? I thought it was close to 0.0. If it does, how do you know it's
correct?

The overall rating for the X50A on eHam.net is 4.7/5. The average rating for the Arrow J-pole is
4.8/5. It sounds like both products are highly regarded.