I didn’t want to cut too much wire and then end up back in the 3’s for my SWR because of a “SHORT” antenna. I decided to be SUPER conservative though. It’s not too bad, but I wanted to snip some more. After removing 11 coils of antenna wire so far, here were my SWR readings: The next time I snipped off 5 coils (I probably shouldn’t have gotten this bold, but it ended up ok). I saw a change in the SWR and it was getting closer to where it needed to be, but it was still not good enough. The next time I unwrapped/snipped off 4 coils. The first time I was a bit nervous, so I unwrapped and snipped off only two coils of wire. Whatever I did to one antenna, I did to the other before checking SWR.)īasically, you unwrap the coil and then snip. So, for example, when you read that I snipped 2 coils that means I snipped 2 coils from each antenna. You want each antenna to be the same length. NOTE: The following was done to both the top and bottom antenna. Here’s a link to FireStik’s website with information about tuning an antenna: This wire is what needed to be shortened, not the fiberglass itself. You can actually see it through the plastic sleeve of the antenna when looking at it closely. There’s a tiny wire that wraps around the Firestik® fiberglass antenna forming a coil and goes all the way up to the tip. In my case, the SWR on channel 40 was greater than on channel 1, so the antenna was considered “LONG” and a reduction of conductor length is what was needed to correct it. The SWR was in the high 2’s on Channel 01 and 20, and 3+ on Channel 40. Nice radio.Īfter getting everything installed, I realized the antenna was giving me high SWR readings. The coax terminates at my Uniden Washington base station. Ran the coax across the basement ceiling, and up into the kitchen. I took this picture when the house was being built because I thought it would come in handy someday for projects like this. I fished the coax to the basement through a cold air return duct (not within code, I know) with the help of a friend. As you can see, there are lots of other houses around. Picture showing which attic in the house I mounted the antenna. I found it on eBay for about $90 (US Funds). To connect the two, I purchased 100ft of “ Davis RF 9914F Bury-Flex 50 ohm Heavy Duty Coax“. The antenna is in my attic, and my 11 meter CB base radio is in my kitchen. John was glad to answer any questions I had.īefore we get into the actual antenna assembly, let’s look at a few pictures illustrating my installation. Don responded to me promptly and put me in touch with John directly. Afterall, his article was on a “HAM RADIO” website.Īfter reading John’s article, I had some questions so I emailed Don (N4UJW) at. Plus, with it mounted in my attic, it would be the perfect “stealth” antenna to keep the homeowners assocation happy. Making a dipole antenna from off-the-shelf items that could easily be purchased from the local truck-stop (Travel America) and hardware store (Lowes) sounded great to me. About this same time, I came across John’s article on describing a dipole antenna he made using mobile fiberglass type CB antennas. An 18ft Solarcon A99 was out of the question.Īfter doing some research, I learned that a dipole antenna mounted in my attic might do the trick. I live in a subdivision governed by a Homeowners Association, so we have certain rules that prevent homeowners from erecting/mounting antennas on their houses. When I first started working on my 11M CB base station, I knew I had to figure out a way to get an antenna up without breaking any of my neighborhood rules. The following article is based on a article by John Reisenauer (KL7JR) titled Simple and Inexpensive Dipole and V Antenna Mount.įirst, I must say that setting up a base radio (11 meter) and accompanying antenna is a new hobby for me.