FireStik 2M 4 Black Fiberglass Antenna Review

I have this antenna on a transom mount on my Cascadia cargo liner. I'm impressed considering my install location is far from optimal. I can hit most 2 megapixel repeaters within 50 miles with a cheap 2 meter Chinese rig! A very cheap and affordable way to get back into amateur radio. Also, this is a stud mount antenna so you can use any of the truck mounts to help set up this antenna instead of buying all sorts of expensive NMO or UHF adapters online.

Just installed and tuned this antenna. Out of the box it's really long at 2m, but that's ok, it's a lot easier to shorten the antenna than lengthen it. It took about 1.5 inches of trimming (in six 1/4-inch cuts) to bring the SWR down to 1.3:1 at 146k and 1.5:1 at the edges. This antenna is mounted on the hood/bonnet on the driver's side of a 2nd gen Tacoma which is not an ideal location but I drive this truck and the roof antennas are not good due to the trees.

This antenna works great with the rail mount/mount on my Wrangler. I have no noticeable interference and at 4ft it still doesn't meet standard 'maximum height' signs and/or ceilings. (This assumes your assemblage point is the same as mine, though.) The antenna barely cut through a couple of pipes running through the parking lot, but aside from the horrific rumble and "boom!" it scares you to death (if you like me and are used to never hitting anything and have therefore forgotten the antenna…