My first screwdriver antenna

I collected my first screw driver style antenna from a local HAM today. Sight unseen until I arrived, not really knowing not what to expect for $30, I was handed a hand built setup, built at the local club some time ago. 

I got it home and took the PVC cover off as it wasn't unscrewing - nothing more than a loose nut at the top it turned out. I could see in doing so the markers where its previous owner has managed to tune it. 80-10m by the looks. Suits me fine. 

I threw the NanoVNA on it real quick to have a look. I managed to get 15m down to about 2.5. Not great, not terrible. Not bad for what it is. Higher bands with a quick fiddle weren't quite so good. All that said, I'm not terribly sure how accurate my NanoVNA is without putting some effort into checking the calibration properly. It hasn't been used in months. I really couldn't bring it past 40m in the garage - I don't have the height.

I also went over the markings with some clear coat. They seem to be in the ball park which is better than nothing. 

The base looks to be setup to slot into a 4WD tow bar. Not something I have. I might just have to get creative with my ground plane options. 

The whip appears to be a fairly thick copper braid with a solid core in the middle soldered to a mount. I'm wondering if there is value in hitting this with some paint and prime to protect it. It's surprisingly strong, but one kid going near it seems to have already put a slight bend in it. It might need to look at a length of 15mm PVC that I can snap on the side to keep it in. 

Going back two steps - one might ask.. why? 

Last time I went away I thought it'd be cool to be able to go fiddle with HF for an hour or so. Maybe try some SSTV.  I have the second battery in the car, so power is no issue. The problem was quite simply... antenna.. or lack thereof. This probably goes close to fitting in my boot. Not very well, but it might fit. 

The only hurdle left is some way of mounting it. I've seen a stand somewhere that was effectively a plate that was driven over and the antenna mounted that way. Something like that might work. I might benefit being able to connect the mount to the car to make the ground plane work better.

Pictures? Not today. Garage is a mess. 

I'll get this outside at some point, maybe sit it on a couple of metres of foil and give it a go. 

There is a tuner connection on this as well, but I need to do some more research on exactly that that does and how that might be used. 

Part of me much prefers the IC706, but the G90 would be a lot easier for travel. Built in tuner, smaller size, far less power consumption, waterfall to actually see what's going on. I do however need to do some work to make it easier to connect to the battery. Possibly starting with a second power plug. I really don't care for ever pulling out all that cable.