Shakespeare 176 2 piece big stick

[Staybolt]

Bought one in mint condition but of course like all the others I've owned, swr issues. Is there any way I can fix this thing?

 

[DoctorAudio]

Those antennas either have excellent SWR or a real bad one. Two things cause them to have high SWR, too much power or being dropped. The matching network is just free-floating inside and point-to-point soldered making it very fragile to shock. I had a buddy ruin a brand new one back in the day by gently dropping one on it's side in some tall grass. He was only about 8 feet up a ladder when he tossed it on the grass. I was standing there (knowing that might break it) but he did it before I could say anything. We were just moving the antenna to a new location and it had a flat match before he tossed it. After, it had an SWR of 5:1.
There is no way to fix one without cutting into it. The glue they used to sleeve the aluminum onto the bottom is too robust to remove it, even with heat.

 

[Staybolt]

It's not that high, but it's at an annoying 2 to 1. I've done everything I can think of. Itll probably end up in the junk just like the other 3.

 

[Riverman]

Add one 103” wire radial connected to mounting bracket.
That always did the trick back in the 70s.

 

[DoctorAudio]

That's not super high but a working Bigstick will usually have a flat match even mounted low. If it seems to have ears even though the SWR is 2:1, the matching cap has probably changed value either from too much power or even just age.

 

[Staybolt]

Just for kicks I grabbed one of the bottom sections I tossed aside years ago and put the top on it. Damn thing matched right up to a 1.2. So I'm thinking the other bottom section is shot. I'm going to tear it apart just for shits and see what I can do.