Transmission1

Should I be getting continuity across the chasis socket on the above antenna, I would have thought this indicates an internal short? Bit of a newb when it comes to base antennas!

It's a short circuit at DC but at RF frequencies it's not, they've got a coil inside (like an unun), an RF transformer to match impedance and one side of that is grounded.

Right, it seems I may have been a bit premature in taking it down, after checking the coax for shorts while the coax was still connected to the antenna!
Back up the ladder tomorrow then!........Thanks for the info, still learning stuff.

Loosen and retighten the screw that goes through the bottom antenna section into the top of the coil as this is usually the first thing to carode and go high resistance .

GBHgpJON wrote:Should I be getting continuity across the chasis socket on the above antenna, I would have thought this indicates an internal short? Bit of a newb when it comes to base antennas!

Yes its normal, your coax or plugs seen to be at fault mate...

Obvious question, but what's the VSWR like?

yes i know i'm a bit of a cb anorak, but its only a silver rod if its the genuine telex hygain silver rod from the 70's, none of this flimsy modern stuff is worthy of the name, yes its silver, yes its a rod but is it a telex hygain silver rod? naaa lol

Admiral wrote:Obvious question, but what's the VSWR like?

Never got that far, I'd just soldered the pl259 onto the end of the coax, and checked continuity, only to get a short. Disconnected the antenna and didn't have short, then checked antenna only to find continuity/short and wrongly assumed the problem was with the antenna.......shame I didnt ask on here before taking it down .........bottom self tapper should be ok as its brand new.
It sez Silver Rod on the box.....thats good enough for me........

If you have a DC short with the coax connected but not without then it sounds to me like everything is ok...

superstar wrote:yes i know i'm a bit of a cb anorak, but its only a silver rod if its the genuine telex hygain silver rod from the 70's, none of this flimsy modern stuff is worthy of the name, yes its silver, yes its a rod but is it a telex hygain silver rod? naaa lol

Your as bad as me

The only "Silver rod" worth buying now is the Sirio one.

The rest are just flimsy rubbish.

Up and running now, SWR is 1.5:1 to 1.7:1 out of the box ....performance seems about the same as the inverted v in the loft, the (ahem) Silver Rods tip is bout 2m higher. Once the neighbours get used to the outside antenna I'll start to raise it up. Not much local stuff around anyway, so I may just stick with the v in the loft......time will tell Cheers for the help.

Every extra foot up will pull more stuff in, so get hoiking

Was gonna use the hoik word, but I reckoned people would be like....eh?? Now picking some local stuff that the v aint getting, so its looking hopeful!

here’s a real one