Above we have a photo of the antenna and the radio under the antenna.
I was expecting maybe a bi-quad for the antenna, known for easy design, good gain and directional. This thing has a large reflector with the coax entering via the middle to the above antenna. The shielding is connected to the reflector and only the centre of the coax comes through to the this antenna that is fed from the centre.
Given the wavelength we are working with is only just over 12cm, the track length for the driven element is huge. The coax has no shield once it passes the reflector so i gather from that point we have the active part of the antenna. In the first part of the vertical part that leaves the middle we have almost half a wavelength distance up and down and almost a full wavelength in the rest of the track to those little squares.
The antenna is directional and does appear to give some gain over a dipole i compared with. So it must be a good design just wish i knew the name of it.
The radio uses a realtek RTL-8187L and we have what appears to be a pair of amps on board! That and we have a sticker with 1W/OK on it looks good. Not taking it as gospel as claims don't have to be proven in this country to be written on a product. You can have a car with a sticker say "1million miles an hour guaranteed!" yea why not. Just to be on the safe side i'm not going to stand near it when connected.
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