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Micheal, First of all, congrats on becoming interested in building your own antennas-- the down side is, this stuff can eat your brain! That said, the suggestion for the ARRL books are good ones, and don't be worried by any naysayers-- the posts were already deleted by the time I saw this...

I wish I had that kind of time! Sure wouldn't be using it to build capacitors, though.

I didn't mean the SO-239 coming apart, I was talking about the integrity of the soldered joint to the center conductor (if I read the original post correctly). Depending on the mechanical strength of a soldered joint is a mistake. I believe that because of making that mistake a few times until...

I won't speak for Doc, but: Would it be better for a dipole to have a well-designed balun? Well, yes. Does it absolutely have to have a balun? No. I'd imagine most dipoles built over the decades have not had baluns, and that includes most of mine. I recall in the ARRL Novice study...

Probably. I don't know too many folks running a gallon on 2m, but why not? :wink: Rick

No, don't cut that whip. Save it, as has already been suggested. You'll be glad you did. Is this for a mobile antenna? Rick

A balun would not likely have much effect on this, though it would eliminate what I suspect to be the problem. That SO-239 for a feedpoint bothers me. It's not only bearing the weight of the feedline but is under stress when the dipole is hoisted up. Do you not have something you can use for...

Great setup. Congrats~!

Sounds like a good day? What mode(s), power, antenna, etc.?

So how do you fellas get QSL info from these guys? In the 70s you'd often hear guys on 16 LSB giving out addresses over the air, but I'm told nobody does that now. Interesting- great card!

Thanks-- two votes so far for one of the options I'm considering anyway.

OK, I seldom operate mobile other than my 2m HT, but I joined a new hunting club that uses CBs quite a bit and thought it would be fun to have one in the truck. On my Rangers and other vehicles, finding a convenient grommet under the door sill was no problem. This F150 presents some challenges...

I've been playing guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, tenor banjo, and Irish button accordion for a long time now. Managed to win 1st place Solo Mandolin in the Fleadh Cheoil in the US in 2006 and competed in the All Ireland that year, and still play in a couple of local folk bands. You have to love...

Hey, I probably have seen you on the Opry and didn't know it (I prefer the Ryman to the Opry House, but man, those pews!) Very cool!

Me likey! Good job. Keep us posted on how it handles ice. Rick

I would expect that to be a very effective antenna elevated at 40', especially on the higher bands-- with it insulated from the tower and with resonant radials (even one per band would work though it would not be optimal), but having it grounded to the tower is playing havoc with your tuning...

Hey Ben, In that installation for the antenna to operate properly you'd need to have it insulated from the tower either multiband radials or separate ones for each band (except 40/15). Can you give more details about how it's configured? Rick

Yep, that's a different situation- an end fed half wave has a feedpoint impedance in the range of 3-4K ohms typically (I've built a few). I suppose those were Rick Made Wires of Fire or something? Rick

Is that a wooden mast?

Sure-- here's the one I used originally, you probably remember this thread: http://www.worldwidedx.com/amateur-radio-antennas/33237-end-fed-1-2-wave-vertical.html This is a good website that has several examples of L/C parallel circuits to match 50 ohms to high Z feedpoints: Bobtail...