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painting a firestik

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Old Sep 25, 2005 | 01:41 PM
  #1  
northfacer581's Avatar
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From: charlotte
painting a firestik

well i thought i ordered a plain black 4ft firestik, but apparently i ordered the "special edition"...its red white and blue. i do love my country, but i would like my antenna to be black. is it ok to just spray paint it? one of my friends also suggested wrapping electrical tape around it...what are your opinions? thanks
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Old Sep 25, 2005 | 01:43 PM
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Can't you just have them swap it out for you?
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Old Sep 25, 2005 | 02:17 PM
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black electrical tape works good
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Old Sep 25, 2005 | 02:56 PM
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Or do like Firestik does and use heat shrink tubing. Buy a length large enough to fit over the antenna (an good electronics store will have it), slip it over and hit it with a heat gun and it'll shrink right on there. Will last longer than paint or tape.
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Old Sep 25, 2005 | 03:53 PM
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From: charlotte
wrapped some electrical tape around it. you cant even tell theres tape over it. i figure a roll of electrical tape at 47 cents a piece, and it only took about 1/4 of the roll, it was the easiest/cheapest way to do it.
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Old Sep 26, 2005 | 08:23 AM
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Plus, now you have electrical tape ready when you need it, just peel it off your antenna.
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Old Sep 26, 2005 | 04:05 PM
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From: charlotte
haha good point. well i finally got around to wiring it up today, and the whole setup works great. i highly recommend this setup to anyone looking for a solid cb setup for a 3rd gen 4runner...the cobra 18 wx st II fits PERFECTLY in the din area, and the 4ft firestik is a great match.
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Old Sep 27, 2005 | 02:23 PM
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I run the same cb/antenna combo and it works great for me as well
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Old Oct 7, 2005 | 05:43 PM
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http://www.firestik.com/Tech_Docs/Ant_paint.htm

On occasion we are asked if it is okay to paint one of our antennas to match the color of the vehicle. The answer is, "Yes … you can!"

To achieve the best results there are a few things you can do,

1. Start out with a white antenna. It will have little or no effect on the base color of the paint.

2. Clean the antenna with paint thinner or denatured alcohol and let dry before applying paint

3. Use a lead free paint. Choose those that are compatible with plastics. We recommend plasti-kote ultra vinyl color paint or compatible.

4. Most car dealerships have paints made for painting plastic that also match the vehicle color.



Adding paint could add to the electrical length of the antenna. Therefore, either recheck the SWR after a previously tuned antenna has been painted, or wait and tune it after the paint job is finished.
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Old Oct 7, 2005 | 05:56 PM
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From: charlotte
thanks very much!! thats the answer i was looking for. i think im going to take off the electrical tape and paint it to green to match my 4runner.
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