dont hear much on channels but static

First thing, welcome.

Now....let me say it now....a 26 inch tall antenna for CB is not going to get you heard much or let you hear. If this is a magnet mount (presuming it is) you want at least, 5 ft of whip in the air. A Wilson 1000 would do you good.

You did get it right by putting the antenna dead middle of roof. That's the best spot for it.

If you want to hear people on 19, drive next to an interstate and listen. Or go to a truck stop and listen. Other than when skip kicks in, you probably won't hear much on the CB. Not as many people use the CB anymore. Channel 19 though is the official highway channel and also considered by some to be the official truckers channel.

The people you hear on channel 6 are the "super bowl" and it's mostly african american operators who run 10's of thousands of watts of power. 11 is another channel they use. You probably won't get a radio check from any of them unless they quit keying up long enough to hear you.

The SWR meter in the radio is not accurate so take the readings with a grain of salt. An external SWR meter is what you want/need. Radioshack used to sell one for $40 that is decent.

 

Yes you will have increased transmit and receive. It won't always mean you will get more people to talk to you, but you will out talk the guy with the smaller antenna.

Your antenna size is what makes or breaks the radio. The best antenna for a mobile is a 102 whip, but most people agree that a 9 ft whip is not practical, even though the whip is flexible and will take a beating, regardless how many tree limbs and bank canopies you might hit.

So a 5 ft whip like I posted is about the next best thing. it won't do as well as a 102 whip but it will be better than what you have now, for sure.

Coax is the next thing to look into. You don't want any coax that will allow the signal to be lost. I prefer RG8X. Also keep the coax as short as needed to connect the radio to the antenna. Despite what anyone says you don't need 18 feet of coax if 9 will do the trick.

As for the radio, you can have it checked to ensure it's tuned on frequency if you want, but don't fall for the "peak" thing where a CB shop says they can get your Cobra 29 to do 35 watts. All too often CB shops wreck radios trying to get more power out of them. All they end up doing is causing the radio to distort to make the "feel good" meter to swing far to the right. The last thing you want is a radio that sound like crap on the air.