4ft Black Firefly

The media could not be loaded. I've used firestik for years, but always the FS2 model, so I wanted to try out a firefly. I'm very impressed. These antennas are very broadbanded, giving an almost flat 1:1 match across the whole 11 meter band. For my application, I took the tuning screw, the lock nut, and the o ring completely out of the tip and it made it perfect length. I'll definitely be getting a few more to have on hand. We will see in the next few days how well it performs.

I removed the tuning screw and it seems to do well enough on 11m with the cap on and 10m (USB voice part) with the cap off. I use a 3" heavy springthe diameter of it is like a Everhardt or prostick. Not as thin as the wilson flex, but quit a bit lighter and more flexible that the standard firestick.

In my set up, I have the antennas mounted behind the cab of my Colorado pick up truck on the bed rail directly behind the window. I have a GMRS antenna on the right and a VHF/UHF on the left with the CB antenna in the middle. I first tried out a 4' Francis double 1/4 wave antenna and unfortunately I was only able to get 2.5 SWR across all channels, that was the good thing more or less, while not great, at least it was consistent SWR on ALL channels. CH 1 and 40 were the same SWR, along with CH19 (~2.5 SWR). If I were to cut any more off after trimming about 1.5" off, then CH 1 and 40 would not be equal anymore. I used a QD mount which raised the antenna about 3" higher than it would have been. The ground plane is great of course--you have the top of the cab and bed as a great counterpoise, and I also tested the ground electrically and everything was mounted correctly and the coax was exactly the length I needed at 15', RG58. I tried RG8X as well, with no difference in SWR whatsoever.Therefore, I decided to try out this 4' FireStik (Firefly) and I get improved SWR of 1.4 on CH19 and 1.8-1.9 on CH1 & 40 WITHOUT any adjustments to the tuning screw and only raising up the capacitance cap about 1/2 inch. Not saying the Francis is a bad antenna, but the double 1/4 wave antenna did not give the best performance for my purpose like the comparable 4' FireStik antenna. So now, I am sticking with the FireStik for my specific setup, and recommend if you do the same set up as me.

The antenna was a good length to mount near the top of the fender on my 2014 Jeep Wrangler. This lets it stick about a foot above where my stock antenna was.The antenna is nice and stiff and the plastic cap seems to be staying on nicely. I forgot to stow it driving into a parking garage and it banged on the concrete ceiling braces pretty hard several times. Neither the fiberglass not the paint chipped.The heavy duty spring (that came with the 18 feet of wire) is perfect for this length antenna as I get almost no sway at highway speeds. But, I can still bend it forward and tuck it under the soft top to get into parking (and my) garages.I also am getting better reception than I did with my stock one- I routinely drive from Kissimmee to Daytona and I've noticed I can hear my local stations a lot farther along during the trip.Great antenna.

I selected this one because it's thinner than the regular FireStik. It tuned very easily too. I had it mounted on a FireStik SS3H spring. I was testing the flexibility of the spring by moving the antenna back and forth when the antenna snapped right at the base. I think I'll either try the thicker version or a solid steel one.

Nice stirdy antenna and i really like it. But what people dont tell you about adding a CB to your vehicle is that in order to tune your antenna it has to be grounded. That means that whatever you mount it too has to be grounded, and that means that you need to go to the local auto parts store and look in their battery section and get a couple of braided (they have to be braided) grounding strips. They are just braided flat wires with a connecter on both ends that you can put a screw through. They are usually about 15" long (your ground strip cannot be more than 3ft max if you make your own). Then you attach one end of that to your car frame (make sure you grind the frame to bare metal first (the connector has to be touching bare metal) then you attach it there with a bolt or screw. Then you go from there to your antenna mount. I had to use two of them and they are not cheap at $12 each. Some places have them cheaper. In my truck i went from the frame to the bed of the truck down below, then from the bed of the truck on top to the bare antenna mount bracket. If you dont ground the antenna your antenna cant be tuned, and running it like that could damage your radio.

This antenna gave me really good reception for where I was (Florence by the Coke Ovens). Was able to communicate between the 4 trucks we had no problem at all. Very clear with the Uniden BEARCAT CB Radio With Sideband And WeatherBand (980SSB) and super easy to install and tune. We went pretty deep into the wash and the antenna handled the trees like a champ...super flexible. Only thing to be careful with in the trees is your tip cover, mine got pulled off. But you can order a set of 2 for like $5 I think.Be sure to get the other items necessary 18' RG-58A/U Coaxial Cable With Pl-259 Connectors, an Firestik SS-3H Heavy Duty Stainless Steel Antenna Spring, and a Firestik K-4A Stud with Screw-On Coaxial Termination for Antenna Mirror Mounts. You'll also need some way to mount it. A bracket of sorts. I just drilled a hole through my front bumper and installed it there. I really like my setup with this product.

Installed on my 2018 GMC, it functions as expected and looks great. Tuning it took a bit of trial and error to get the hang of it. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase. Good value.