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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 on Hamuniverse.com 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!    Finished antenna on left and other sections during the build.    Completed antenna on the right above an other shots of it. 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      Hamuniverse.com uses Green Geeks Web Hosting!