Bottom part: Remove every other radial. Leaving four evenly spaced radials.
Remove 6 meter 'topper' and hardware.
Remove radiating "disc" and set aside for later parts or toss. Mine was missing a lot of the prickly pear radiators.
Remove factory whip.
Disassemble loading coil... remove loading coil wire and replace with 18 gauge stranded wire, TWO coils/turns top to bottom over the loading coil bobbin. If you are very creative, you can twist and strip part of the existing coil wire and use that.
Replace factory whip with 48" stainless whip.
Re-assemble whip/loading coil assembly.
Screw that down into the base/ground/radial assembly.
Apply plasti-dip or liquid electrical tape on exposed non-stainless electrical components.
Let dry and get on the air.
When I re-assembled this, I added just a touch of Gorilla Glue to the threads on the assembly that screws down though the plastic insulator in the radial assembly. Why? Because this antenna is well over 10 years old and the sun and weather had severely softened the plastic threads...
The finished product:
Whole assembly is dang near 8 feet tall, so won't quite fit in the picture...
VSWR < 1.3 across the entire 6 Meter band.
Get on the air!
Remove 6 meter 'topper' and hardware.
Remove radiating "disc" and set aside for later parts or toss. Mine was missing a lot of the prickly pear radiators.
Remove factory whip.
Disassemble loading coil... remove loading coil wire and replace with 18 gauge stranded wire, TWO coils/turns top to bottom over the loading coil bobbin. If you are very creative, you can twist and strip part of the existing coil wire and use that.
Replace factory whip with 48" stainless whip.
Re-assemble whip/loading coil assembly.
Screw that down into the base/ground/radial assembly.
Apply plasti-dip or liquid electrical tape on exposed non-stainless electrical components.
Let dry and get on the air.
When I re-assembled this, I added just a touch of Gorilla Glue to the threads on the assembly that screws down though the plastic insulator in the radial assembly. Why? Because this antenna is well over 10 years old and the sun and weather had severely softened the plastic threads...
The finished product:
Whole assembly is dang near 8 feet tall, so won't quite fit in the picture...
VSWR < 1.3 across the entire 6 Meter band.
Get on the air!
