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I recently purchased a Nagoya NA-771 that I believe is counterfeit given the overall feel of the antenna. How do I identify a genuine Nagoya antenna vs. a counterfeit?

Amin Shah Gilani
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  • The real question is: does it matter? The best is to test. I am here with 2 Baofeng UV-5R and I have the stock and two (probably fake) NA-771. Came in orange package, so probably fake. But I saw a guy on YouTube using that same orange-packed Nagoya to pick up signal from the ISS. I am in a pretty dead zone right now where I only get action on the FRS band 462.xyz MHz, and I noticed that the stock antenna picks up more chatter than the Nagoya fake. But I think that is because the 462 MHz is out of the resonant range of the Nagoya. I need to actually do a test on ~145 MHz and 440 MHz to see what – Gunther Schadow Jan 13 '20 at 16:15
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    In my experience, it absolutely matters. I obtained two NA-771 antennas, one real and one fake. The real Nagoya and the stock rubber ducky both outperformed the counterfeit antenna by a huge margin. – mrog Jan 13 '20 at 17:24
  • @GuntherSchadow Comments and answers are not for expressing opinions such as "does it matter?". Please study the hamSE commenting and answering guidelines to see why your answer was deleted. – Mike Waters Jan 13 '20 at 23:29

1 Answers1

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Nagoya has an official article listing the difference between genuine antennas and counterfeits, please refer to that.

As of their January 15, 2015 update:

  • Genuine antennas come in a green bag
  • Genuine antennas' bags have well-made rounded corners
  • Genuine antennas come with a spacer
  • Genuine antennas are straight
  • Genuine antennas have a particular printed font (see pictures in the article)
  • The QR code on genuine packaging goes all the way next to the Nagoya branding

These are all illustrated in the article, I recommend reading it.

Amin Shah Gilani
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    The counterfeit packaging may also have spelling errors. – mrog Mar 31 '19 at 05:07
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    If you're looking for a genuine antenna, start by going to a reputable site like miklor.com or baofengtech.com, and let them direct you to the right product. – mrog Mar 31 '19 at 05:11