FINALLY an example of what the dumbing down of amateur radio has caused.  The everpresent drum beat
to make everything "fair" and "equal" has been judged by an authority outside our "social promotion" jurisdiction  and a real consequence has been imposed.
Don't bother calling the ACLU though, CEPT doesn't listen.

   Beg, borrow, or steal a Bird wattmeter with a 100 watt 100-250 MHZ   slug and measure it yourself!   You will need a load of some kind.

   Beg, borrow, or steal a Bird wattmeter with a 100 watt 100-250 MHZ   slug and measure it yourself!   You will need a load of some kind.

    "magnetic stainles steel? "

   THe pad could be going bad.  I had half the buttons out on an 02 till I ordered a new one.  They are not that hard to work on.

     I have had good luck with a 100 foot flat top with 10 feet bent down at each end. (Exactly how much doesn't matter)  If you want to shrink the 100 foot section you will have to go with open wire.  

   I use 10 lb test and a 1 oz sinker and spray WD40  on the works to help with gravity.  I would  try a bigger sinker before giving up.  The Walmart "crossman" sling shot can shoot 1oz a LONG way.  

   W5DA made them and called them "solid tubes" for
Drake and "Tubesters" for Collins  he is no longer in the business according to the Collins Collectors. Full sets appear on their site for sale from time to time and "our friend" Marytin strips  them from gear he buys and sells them . I have a Drake R4C with a full set and overall they work as well and produce less hum and noise.  The 6HS6 in particular is used an a fair number of radios and I think that a  new solid state replacement would be welcome.  I would buy a couple.  BTW I just recently
tried a solid tube 6AU6 I have  for Drake in an S Line receiver PTO and while it worked it drifted more than the tube
and was subject to shift anytime a hand was placed near it so these devices - at least those built by W5DA were intended for very specific applications.  

   I've got a six meter beam and rotor mounted on a vent pipe and live on an island where the wind can get pretty strong.  No problems.  Regarding antenna placement-- it is standard practice for tv antenna installers to "walk a roof" to find the best spot which may not "look" like the best one.  Since you are dealing with FM you may not notice a sronger noise pickup on the roof but the squelch circuit in the radio will not open till the signal is strong enough to reduce the noise voltage developed.  Could be lower is quieter.  

   I use a HyGain Hytower (full size 1/4 wave on 80)
and solved a longstanding rf in the shack problem with one.  The coax was acting like a radial and despite
a good radial system rf was turning up on the mike cord and my keyer line - among other things.  A current choke at the feed point solved the problem.  Even my simple field strength meter reads lower.  

  So ---- try it on another receiver and when you notice the same thing realize that the Sony is a non directional non polarized antenna which if placed close to a noise source is going pick it up very well.  Take the Grundig out to the spot where the Sony is mounted and see if the same noise is present on the built in antenna.  If it is try moving around the yard till you find a quiet location.  Don't use the Sony with a wall wart either-- too much line noise rides in on the AC line.  Nothing says the Sony coax can't be extended if your quiet spot is far away.  The long wire may be picking up some noise, too, but only a part of it may be in a high  noise area. Remember once a wire gets to be a quarter wave long it starts to reject signals from the ends and you may have been lucky in where you placed it.  The Sony wants to see a 50 or 75 ohm receive connection -- a gator clip to the
radio whip antenna isn't going to work very well.  

   I spent a number of WASTED hours on 75 waiting for them to STOP saying "EU EU".  Finally "up theirs"  I worked K1MM there years ago on 80 cw.  That's enough for me.  

   Just got a look at the antenna on the Firestik
website--they advertise it as a 2 meter ham antenna and a MURS -which is a sort of VHF low power cb band antenna ( the FCC turned over a few vhf fm channels to
no license cb type operation some years ago).  The dimensions given  are the same for the MURS and the 2
meter version!  Hard to tell from a drawing but it may be well made.   I'd call or Email Firestik and ask for the specifications for the ham and MURS antennas, perhaps you need to buy a new radiator (stick) to make it work on 2.  If not they are pretty good at making a broadband antenna! (Or making it seem like one  -- a dummyload is nice and broad.  

   I was given a couple of 2 meter "5/8" firesticks as samplses some years ago.  They were well made but in the firestick custom of winding 5/8 of wire on a fiberglass stick less than 5/8 long.  You don't get the 5/8 vertical pattern that way.  It is a popular
way of making short cb antennas though and they make a number of them.  
   Up here in the frozen north most of us have at least one "put it up and not worry about it" 2 meter antenna which is expected to survive the winter weather
rather than produce the last phantom db.  I have not had a look at the MURSBASE and wonder if it was made
for some special use on VHF highband and there were some left over they are trying  to sell to (swr crazy) hams.
Ham antennas for 2 meters are usually cut for band center 146.00 or a little long and trimable. It is difficult to sell a antanna to a ham which won't trim to 146.  On the other hand the radiator may be adjustable.  

   If the antenna is well made, comes with radials,
has a good base and mount,  is a real 5/8, and can be adjusted to be flat on 2,  gold plating it and calling it a Diamond isn't going to make it produce a  better signal.   If it does NOT come with a cutting chart for 2 meters, it probably isn't worth buying.  Chuck, K1DA

   WHY doesn't everybody LIKE ME? sour radio grapes.
I have often thought that one less than desirable aspect of the hobby is that geeknoids you would avoid in person won't leave you alone on the air.  How many times have I had a good roundtable broken up because somebody  resented the fact that we all knew each other and were enjoying ourselves while taking up only one frequency.  Listen newbees, if time after time groups seem to give you the brush
off look in the mirror.  Too many of you break into roundtables with a chip on YOUR OWN shoulders, make annoying comments to see how much our tolerance can be pushed and then complain that "they"  don't talk to whatevers. Nothing in the rules says we HAVE to talk to you beyond finding out if you have  emergency traffic.  Heck, we will talk to anyone  with a normal personality, take your attention need disorder elsewhere.  Funny you never seem to talk to each other.  I wouldn't dream of breaking up that. Example, DON't break into a QSO where it is clear the folks have know each other for years and are good friends and start complaining about our audio and telling us we better put up G Fiver RVEEEEEEEES like yours, OK.