Need some opinions on radio/antennas

#1.Good starter radio and no you cant use the built in meter. Those meters are never right. You would be better off going to Radio Shack and buying one of there SWR meters for around $30.00 that way you will be sure of your reading. There are better SWR meters for more money but the R shack meter is a good choice for the money.

#2.It will be hell getting the SWR down with the antennas that close because they will be fighting each other.That means it will screw up your radiation pattern and the antennas will not transmit in a uniform pattern,you will talk better from one side or the other instead of all around which is the way you should want it. You would be much better off using on Fire stick antenna ( At least 5ft tall ) with the adjustable tip for dialing in your SWR. Try to get it dead center of the roof behind the cab of the truck and you will talk well from all sides.

You do not want a dummy antenna because you will still have problems with SWR and the performance of your setup.

 

The built in SWR meter on the 78 Elite is not very accurate. Neither is the one on the Cobra 29.

You still want/need an external SWR meter.

I wouldn't even consider running the Firesticks you've mentioned.....your best bet would be to run a single Wilson 1000 mag mount in the dead center of the vehicle on the truck cab's roof. That will get out much better than a Firestick and also you want the antenna dead center of the vehicle so you can talk to anyone 360 around the truck. Otherwise you'll be very directional.

 

yea i like the wilson 1000 it is a good antenna

 

INTERESTING ......

I have had good luck with FIRESTICKS/HAMSTICKS

 

I used a 4 1/2 foot Francis Antennae for years. They don't make a magnetic mount, but I transferred that antennae from a KW to a Freightliner to a Peterbilt with 18' of coax and never had the swr go over 1. You are mounting on a pickup so have to figure out a mounting bracket and a good ground, but I don't think you can beat a Francis for all an all around antennae.

 

I'm not saying they're bad antennas, they might be ok for a semi, but there are better antennas for a personal vehicle.

Remember...."height is might"....a 4 foot antenna will outperform a 3 foot, and a 6 foot will outperform both a 3 and a 4 foot....and a 9 foot will outperform all of them.

As mentioned for a personal vehicle I recommend a Wilson 1000 or a 102 whip dead center of the vehicle, as high as you can get it.

In fact since you say you want to mount it on your headache rack, I'd just weld on a flange that you could bore a big enough hole to install a gumdrop mount and then run a 102 whip into that, make sure you have the right 6 inch spring to make it a full 108 inches tall....trust me you'll get out like nobody else, provided your SWR's are under 1.5:1.