Slim Jim Newbie

[davidrayt]

I am a newbie working on setting up my ribbon slim jim inside my apartment as I cannot mount an outside antenna.  Everyone talks about keeping it away from metal objects but how far away?  I need to use the antenna in my kitchen which of course has a refrigerator and range that are curiously made of metal.  I also would like to know which part of the antenna radiates.  The top or the bottom?  

[Lscott]

I would recommend keeping it about 12 inches away from large metal objects.

 

The top part of the antenna, about 75 percent of it, is where the RF mainly radiates from.

 

If you don’t need to use the antenna often you can try hanging it from an eye-hook screwed into the ceiling.

[coryb27]

Don't rule out a 1/4 wave on a magnet mount in the center of a 18" pizza pan.

 

Believe it or not this will talk almost as good as a mobile if you can get it in front of a window.

[davidrayt]

Thank you for your replies.  I will be trying the Slim Jim hanging from the ceiling two feet from the refrigerator and two feet from the range.  This is exactly where I stood to hit a repeater that is seven miles away with just my HT without an external antenna.  So I am excited to see how it works.  I am going to try to hit two other repeaters.  One is 15 miles away and the other is a little further than that.  

[davidrayt]

OK.  So the slim jim doesn't work.  I have seen UHF only ribbon Slim Jims and was wondering if I could cut this dual band slim jim down to a UHF only slim jim?

[axorlov]

Get outside. Hang up slim jim off the tree or fence or anything. Repeat the test.

[davidrayt]

I am communicating with people on the repeater with my stock antenna for the Btech MGRS V1.  So I am happy.  The slim jim will go in my bug out bag and when SHTF we will see if it works.  Until then I am done with it.  However I do have a Nagoya coming so we will see if that improves things.  Thank you for all your suggestions. 

[maddogrecurve]

On 2/16/2021 at 2:35 PM, davidrayt said:

I am a newbie working on setting up my ribbon slim jim inside my apartment as I cannot mount an outside antenna.  Everyone talks about keeping it away from metal objects but how far away?  I need to use the antenna in my kitchen which of course has a refrigerator and range that are curiously made of metal.  I also would like to know which part of the antenna radiates.  The top or the bottom?  

You should be fine!  Do you have an SWR meter or antenna analyzer?  If so, just test it to make sure!  I have hung my slim jims all over the place and always test them when I move them, sometimes they are affected by objects and sometimes not.  Just keep it away from the fridge and maybe any low hanging overhead light fixtures.  I hang mine by my fluorescent light in my shop and it is only slightly affected by it.

 

WRMQ982