Screw Driver Antenna instructions - Elmers Forum at eHam.net

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eHam.net Forum : Elmers : Screw Driver Antenna instructions

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Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by AE6KI on March 16, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
Hello all, I have installed a Screw Driver Antenna on my truck, but the only Freq. I can get resonant is in the 6 Meter portion. The base of the antenna is mounted to the bed of the truck, with a clamp supporting it mid way up the lower portion. The clamped area is isolated from the bed of the truck. Can anyone suggest what I could do to make this a tunable antenna? I may also add there were no instructions with it. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide. All the best, John Small, AE6KI

RE: Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by K5LXP on March 16, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
I trust it goes up and down correctly? How long of a stinger is on it? Do you have a matching coil at the bottom? Any clue who the manufacturer was? Mark K5LXP Albuquerque, NM k5lxp@arrl.net

RE: Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by WA4PTZ on March 17, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
I hope you have the entire antenna insulated from the truck and the mount. The entire antenna is the radiator, not just the stinger. Many peole make this mistake. If you cut the stinger/whip for 60 inches it should work 10 - 80 but you would need a very short whip/stinger to work 6 and then you would not be able to work 80 meters. I solved that problem by using a SGC Sg-237 along with my screwdriver antenna. 73 and good luck

RE: Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by N6AJR on March 17, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
remember to tune for max white noise, not necessarily minimum swr.. the antenna is tuned when the backround noise is the loudest.. 73 tom

RE: Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by KF4ZGZ on March 18, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
Who made the antenna? The only time most screwdrivers tune 6m is with the coil all the way in and the whip off. Most likely the bottom tube is all that is acting as a radiator. Make sure that the fingerstock is making contact with the coil. Also, you MUST have a good ground connection. The entire antenna, not just the whip and coil is the radiator, so the only place you should have a conductive connection is at the feed point and the GOOD ground. You may also want to try feeding the antenna across an inductive coil. 20 - 30 turns at about a half an inch diameter and tap the coil for best match on 40m or 80m and live with the higher bands. You can adjust the length of the coil ( squeeze it or stretch it )and help swr also. Good luck de Matt, kf4zgz

RE: Screw Driver Antenna instructions	Reply
by AE6KI on March 19, 2003	Mail this to a friend!
Thanks everyone for the help, I did everything but sacrifice chickens, and it still didn't work. So I pulled off the bottom, and found the epoxy holding the toroid came loose, and the toroid was resting against the mounting bolt. As soon as my move is complete, I will finish fixing it (most of my stuff is in storage). To answer your question Matt, it was a kit antenna from a Ham in North Texas. I am seriously considering a High Sierra, I have heard alot of good things about them. Thanks again!! John Small, AE6KI

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