Cobra 29 LTD with K40 plus 6000. Good set up?

The other radio probably "smoked" because your SWR was too high...

As for the antenna...The bed probably is resting on rubber bushings and has a poor ground...What I would do is run ground straps off the corners of the bed to the frame...be sure to knock off any rust or dirt before mounting the straps...

As for the wire. Flat ground braid is best for doing "RF Grounding" (which is what your doing) You can use old coax...Just strip off the plastic cover, then pull out the center conductor wire, and use the ground braid...just flatten it out and attach it under the bed to the frame with self tapping screws. You can put some solder on the ends of the braid, so the screw won't just tear the braid up...

Where you have your mount for the antenna, be sure there's no paint between the mount and whatever it's mounted on if it's a permanent mount...If it''s a magnet mount, then it don't mater, otherwise the mount needs to get a good ground, you can run a ground strap off the mount to the frame too if you have to.

 

Radio Shack sells a pretty good one for under $40...You'll need to also buy a jumper-coax for it tho, because they don't come with one in the box...3' jumper is all you need...

The Radio Shack meter is a SWR/Power Meter good up to 2000w's, I have one in my work van that I leave in-line all the time...You really should get a SWR Meter...There cheaper than replacing burned-up radios all the time!

 

For the most part...cal. then check swr.

On the Radio Shack Meter, to check SWR you first flip a switch to Cal. then once calibrated you flip the switch to SWR then Key the Mic and see where the needle moves to...Best to have your Mic Gain turned all the way OFF too so not to pick up any noise...

Check on channels 1 and 40...Get those two channels to tune as low as possible, then channel 20 should be even lower since it's in the middle.

 

One or even two braids may not do much from the frame to the bed. I know of guys that had to put one on each corner. I would try bonding the bed to the cab with a couple of straps first. The cabs usually are grounded well. Use two straps. Added benefit, the sheet metal of the cab and bed is easier to drill through than the frame.

 

Use ground strap. Ground the bed to the frame in a couple of places.

 

Rat Shack has a habit of only having one meter on the shelf at one time per store...If the store you go to does not have one, have them check their computer and see where the closest store is that has one in stock...In Dallas this is what I had to do once, and out of all their stores here only 3 had one...