stop my mobile antenna from whistling

[443 Arizona]

never had a tena whistle as bad as this one, its a 5 ft. Franklin mounted solid and straight up on top my pickup roof, its basically a smooth fiberglass stick about 5/16" in dia. with a steel mounting stem, i am not using a spring.
this thing whistles like a train at hiway speeds.
so in thinking whistling is vibration, maybe i can tie a small short rope to the middle and let it fly to add drag???that wont be good when wet,,
or add a corona ball end for a bit of drag???
or lean it fwd 5 or 10 degrees???
i am shying away from using a spring because of "lean back" and generally waggling all the time which cuts down the performance.
best swr is without spring. ?
what can i do?

[MDYoungblood]

I don't know that brand. It most likely is vibration. Try spiraling electric tape up the shaft, more so toward the top. If that works then switch the tape out with shrink tube. Only other thing would be to lean the antenna one way or the other, changing the drag pattern.

3's

Greg

[Bluerunner]

Does the coax come through the door jamb?

Maybe the whistle is air leaking past the door gasket where the coax makes a dent in it.

[443 Arizona]

not the coax, it goes inside the roof into the mounting puck,
i had thought of adding some shrinkwrap to attach a string for drag, but the tape idea might work as i never seen a firestick whistle, maybe because it isn't smooth.
this is a good antenna otherwise, would like to keep it.
i am going to try and post a video,,,, its an awsome whistle hahahhaah

[MDYoungblood]

I looked everywhere and couldn't find a "Franklin" antenna so I'm guessing our "spell check" changed "Francis" or "FireStik".

3's

Greg

[Bluerunner]

The whistle might scare deer off the road.
I know they sell devices to put on your car to do that so you don't run into them.
Maybe it is an unadvertised feature.

[Bluerunner]

Could it be air being sucked in or out of the cab at hwy speed through the penetration hole in the roof. Maybe a gob of RTV might seal it up. Probably been there done that...Just say'n.

[443 Arizona]

hey BlueRunner, i like your thinking outside the box but, no, the seal is air tight.
the brand, Francis "hot rod",probably was a small fry production years back before firestick? maybe they figured out it whistles and had to change it.
i am going to try leaning it fwd about 10* and add a glob on the tip for drag.
otherwise it will be switched out with some other antenner.

[443 Arizona]

sorry guys, it IS a Francis "hot rod" antenna,,

[MDYoungblood]

You mentioned a corona ball on the tip, might work. Instead of a glob of silicone, try your local auto parts store for a large vacuum plug.

3’s

Greg

[Bluerunner]

While at the auto parts store get some vacuum hose that fits over the antenna.
Try a piece haft way up or all the way up. might dampen vibrations.

[jessejamesdallas]

It could be because that antenna is fairly small in diameter, it just vibrates at high speeds from the wind and causes the noise...I would suggest getting a better antenna, maybe something like a Skipshooter if you like the fiberglass antennas...They are thicker and less likely to vibrate from the wind.

I've had Predator 10K's that would whistle in the wind, and the way you fix the problem on those was to add a washer to the bottom of the antenna before you screwed it onto the mount...what this does is change the way the coil's mounting points to the shaft is pointing, and reduces just enough wind drag to stop the whistling....Others have had luck tying a piece of string or small rope to the coil and let it flop around in the wind sorta like a flag, to stop the whistling.