1) Experiments show that a linear model accounts for the somatic response to noisy current injection in the apical trunk of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. 2) The model consists of cylindrical compartments with a linear surface impedance (Zm) representing the dendritic membrane. 3) The full compartmental model perfectly reproduced experimental 2-port measurements of transfer impedance (ZT) at different distances from the soma. The model supports different predictions about theta oscillation transmission depending on the impedance profile used.