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Tune Around! Topics For
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The M6MRP "Stiff Wire" Slim Jim Antenna for 2 Meters Hi... I would like to
add my build experience for those interested in the Slim Jim antenna and
the cost is NOTHING. Just a little time and fun is required with great
results.
I came across this web page when I was
looking for a quick and easy VHF home brew antenna for when my VHF/UHF
beam comes down from the roof for repairs. It has taken a
beating with the recent high winds here in the north of the
UK.
I live a long way from any active repeaters or internet linked nodes so the antenna I need to build has to be quite powerful for my needs. My rubber duck antennas on my HT and FT-817ND are not usable at my QTH which is down in a steep river valley surrounded by trees and under a lattice of overhead domestic AC supply and telephone wires. Other antennas I have also tried are a mobile 5/8 wave on a ground plane, a home brew J pole and small home brew dipole all with less than favorable results. After reading on this
site about the slim jim antenna and other peoples results, I decided
to knock one together out of scrap material from around the house and give
it a try. "FANTASTIC" were the end results is what I say about the slim jim antenna! See photos below of this very simple and easy project and it is cheap!
I set it up indoors strung from the curtain rail (shown above) in an upstairs bedroom and I have respectable and very much usable results compared to all other antennas I have tried. My build took 20 minutes using an old length of coax, some bailer wire, soft plastic tube as spreaders, two felt tip pen tubes as 2 inch end spreaders and a choc block connector for the coax connection and swr tuning slide. (It was usable at 1.4:1 after build, set for 4" from the bottom as per directions for the Slim Jim Antenna project on this page.) Cost for build £0.00 using
all scrap materials from around the house!
I will be building a more robust
version for the roof as I am so impressed with this antenna and I would
recommend anybody looking to build a 2m antenna to improve the RX/TX of an
HT for holiday or base use to give the slim jim a try even with semi rigid
(stiff wire) like I used.
The slim jim antenna is really good and so simple to make. Thank you and have
fun.
Phil
M6MRP Northumberland
UK
m6mrp AT yahoo.co.uk
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