I need antenna help

I live in Florida ( tropical heat and humidity) and had a Wilson 1000 mag mount on my F150 for eight years ( middle of roof) and every now and then the swr would spike, and it was usually in the morning when vehicle was covered in dew , so I would have to remove antenna base and wipe surface clean and dry, I would usually have to do this once a week, you would think the magnet would be strong enough to prevent moisture from getting between the roof and magnet but I guess not.

 

I'd invest in an antenna analyzer and drive around with it for a day and watch what happens in real time without putting your radio at risk.

 

A set of these and your golden!!

Saw these on youtube but was a heck of a time tryin to take this oic...Yeap it is what you think,his fibreglass ant you see all lit up....
Gotta wonder how much interference

 

Most likely its dirt or moisture under the ant mag...Or it could be moisture inside a poorly manufactured mag unit....

 

Did you really try 3 different radios. To me it sounds like your finals are going. Mosfet transistors I hate them the old 2sc 1969 transistor in the old cobras would show a power loss then blow. The mosfets when they go bad they leak rf all over and the swr goes nuts. You will still see your power a lot of times or as they heat up they will drop some watts or not. Check your swrs where theres nothing around, or you might have a bad rusty ground to the body look under the hood. Only magnet gureenteed to work is 3 of them in a triangle or 4 magnets where you need a pry bar to get off. But then you can't run a Wilson antenna. A predator is the best, tune it by the whip up or down with a Allen key. The 7 footer is the best to a 102 inch stainless steel whip which is number one. Any short antenna you lose full potential. But on that pick up roof you be at 14 feet up. So you need a smaller shaft on bottom so you can get a 60 inch predator. I wrecked the center of my toyota highlander I drive around with a 7 foot predator but my highlander is only 64 inches to top of roof. Your in Florida go see ghost Ryder amps he will set you up. As far as every one says a radio can only go 50 miles on flat land a 102 inch whip nothing in the way you can ground wave 150 miles to a base on 200 watts. Best of luck 73s