Bingfu 42.5-inch Foldable Tactical (SMA-Female) vs Nagoya NA-320A (Tri-Band)

The Nagoya NA-320A is the clear winner for most users, despite costing only two dollars more.

The critical differentiator is electrical length matching. The Bingfu performs reasonably on VHF at half wavelength but becomes increasingly compromised on UHF, where it stretches to 1.57 wavelengths and actually loses gain. The Nagoya, by contrast, lands closer to optimal electrical lengths across all three bands, delivering particularly strong UHF performance at 5/8 wavelength (2.9 dBi vs. negative gain). Its quarter-wave VHF performance is weak, but acceptable on a handheld where no ground plane exists anyway.

Both antennas claim 3.5 dBi gain. The Nagoya's claim is well supported by its engineering. The Bingfu's claim appears optimistic given its poor UHF electrical length, though its VHF half-wave design is sound.

Buy the Bingfu only if you operate primarily on VHF and want maximum compactness. Buy the Nagoya NA-320A if you use any UHF frequency or operate across multiple bands, where its tri-band optimization and higher overall score of 87 versus 73 make it the more versatile choice.

The NA-320A is the antenna to choose for typical amateur radio work.