I picked up a few old antennas this morning from the flea market for $5. I got a old radio shack 4' whip a francis 4' whip a cobra hg-a400 whip and a 102" stainless steel whip or so I thought. Well the SS whip was only 96"? But I remembered seeing about using 1" 3/8 x24 bolts and a piece of 3/4" copper tubing with caps on the end to make the lower section of a 102 to be used with no spring so I went to work. I used a 24" piece of 3/4" copper tubing with caps and drilled a hole through both caps I mounted the 102 with a 3/8x24 nut to one cap and then soldered the cap to the copper tubing the put a 1"x3/8 bolt through the other cap with a 3/8x24 nut on it and soldered it to the other end of the copper tubing I then put my new antenna in my ball mount and trimmed the SS whip with bolt cutters until I had a match of no needle movement for swr on 1-40 the after checking I found I can go from 26.625-27.815 with a matched reading of 1.2 on both
:: I think I am going to like this and it has way less flex than a full 108" whip but I kind of wish I would have used a 36" piece of copper tubing but oh well maybe the next one. By the way the cobra won't tune at all anywhere! the francis is a 1.5 on 1 and 40 with a 1.3 on 20 and the radio shack tuned to a 1.3 on 1 and 1.5 on 40 and I put them on the shelf as spare parts. Someone may need them some day.
:: I think I am going to like this and it has way less flex than a full 108" whip but I kind of wish I would have used a 36" piece of copper tubing but oh well maybe the next one. By the way the cobra won't tune at all anywhere! the francis is a 1.5 on 1 and 40 with a 1.3 on 20 and the radio shack tuned to a 1.3 on 1 and 1.5 on 40 and I put them on the shelf as spare parts. Someone may need them some day.
