A.A.Ron on Nostr: I run a Yeasu ATAS-120A screwdriver style antenna on my truck for HF ham radio. It's ...

I run a Yeasu ATAS-120A screwdriver style antenna on my truck for HF ham radio. It's a decent unit, relatively inexpensive, easy to mount and easy to use with a Yeasu radio. I have made contacts with it on the 40 meter through 6m bands, including WARC. It's pretty inefficient, but good enough for FT8 contacts from Alaska to the PNW and Japan using 25W, most days. My main complaint is that it occasionally has intermittent high SWR due to corrosion between the matching unit and the coil tube. When this hapens, I partially disassemble it and clean that area with a wire brush and rubbing alcohol. It's a simple procedure. Drive the coil up, slide up the rubber ring to expose three Phillips screws, remove the screws and gently pry and tap the matching unit off. It is held on by a rubber o-ring and corrosion. Be careful not to damage the wires between the matching unit and motor. Clean, seal, reassemble and you are back in business in under an hour.
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