Tiger Tails… Do they work?… Yes they do… but only IF you tune them….which is pretty easy to do. In the absence of professional equipment, a simple field strength meter would do nicely.
Some VHF portables, particularly the Baofengs, are approaching 10 watts output. With a tuned ‘Tiger Tail’ used with a portable you can approach mobile range and communications quality with a simple portable using an aftermarket Nagoya or similar 15″ antenna… remember there are no feedline losses with a portable radio… The difference is significant. with tiger tails more than doubling the antenna radiation efficiency of a portable
Richard
VA7AA/XE1