Is the 1/2 silver rod the best antenna in the world ?

[barefootindian]

wa10 thanks for your nicely detailed explanation. I have a much better understanding of what to do when I get to put it on a mast. I forgot about using a few turns on a former to try to aleviate stray rf. I'll definitly do that when putting the wire ground planes on it.
InTheClouds I'll be careful when inserting/extracting the 259 to/from the 239. I would of thought that that area would of been constructed more robustly considering the job it was designed to do. Thanks again to the both of you for your helpful answers to my questions.

[The Collector]

I had a radio that had that issue. You'd push the pl plug in and the socket centre pushed inside the radio somewhat. Simple swap/fix though.

I suppose with an aerial socket, they're probably assuming you'll only plug it in once and then whack it up on the house gor a few years, so they can buy cheaper sockets and save 50p.

[InTheClouds]

That'll be the one The Collector. They are fine but after static mobile ups and downs can get dodgy. I still love them, basic and work well.
What never ceases to amaze me is how impressive 11m is as a band. I went out with my dad once on a whim just to show him what cb is about
I put a silver rod on what could be considered the ground. literally a 3ft tripod, keyed up and spoke to S. Africa. within moments. With great F2 conditions you can perform what seems like miracles with the most basic of kit.

The higher performing antennas give you the edge when the F2 DX / cycle is not so strong, they essentially extend the skip season for you. As does low background noise locations. When F2 layer weakens at the end of the cycle many stations cannot hear the weaker DX so they are not on air as much which also helps as the band has less traffic overall. You can still work S2 stations.

It is really all about the ears, what can you hear at your location, low static/noise antennas, low RF background noise.

Working 10m with its lower noise floor makes it worth being an amateur alone for many, I have no interest in being a ham. Though I have terrible local interference since a year or 2 which makes it unusable unless Europe is coming in at end stops.

[Stronty]

As mentioned the screw just holds the coil in place. It is just a bit of wire wrapped round a bit of insulator, unless for curiosity alone
probably best to leave that bottom section untouched, tuning is just by length alone. Simplicity is part of the beauty of the old silver rod.
If I recall I think the screw going through actually makes the connection from the coil to the radiating element via a brass screw thread.
Go easy pushing your 259 in and out as the SO239's are pretty low quality riveted jobbys on the Venoms and they can end up inside the socket if you are connecting and reconnecting a lot.

For those who are curious this is from my silver rod (unknown version) I had it up from the mid 1980's then lay in a relatives loft for a number of years, then I recovered it to some degree :-)

Anyway this is what is inside for the curious,

silverrod.png

[NightProwler]

I cut open an old silver rod years back and in the bottom was a small cardboard tube, Like a tiny bog roll with very thin wire wrapped around it going into the SO239. Quality

[Mudslinger]

At least the Sirio version is a lot better made. Thicker wire, and no dodgy bits of cardboard.

I really cannot understand why anyone wouldn't spend the extra few quid. They are just not comparable.

[Buick Mackane]

What was the coil in these actually for ? Loading coil i take it ?

[Mudslinger]

Matching the impedance.

[InTheClouds]

Wow coil on a wafer thin PCB, the later ones have the wire round cardboard as mentioned. The Sirio hands down wins for quality.

[ghost123uk]

Keeping to the Silver Rod theme (ie, lets not go off topic with TL2T etc) I wonder if the design of the coil is documented anywhere?

I am thinking one could make a home brew version using a "multi section tapered" 18 foot glass fibre pole (like a fishing rod) with wire running up the centre, and "that coil" at the base.

Remember, NOT talking about bazookers or TL2T, just making a homebrew Silver Rod type end fed 1/2 wave.

[InTheClouds]

I am sure it could be done quite easily with wire alone. In the end that is all all antennas are, miraculous though they are.

One thing though, wire does not look cool. And let's face it we like cool looking antennas.