wilson little wil issue?

My mother n law gave me my late father n law's cobra 29 to use. I researched and purchased a wilson antenna based on this site and reviews. Had to get the lil will for clearance issues but i figured on a stock cb for a guy who just wants to chat and listen in it should be fine. Here is my issue. I opened the package and sat the antenna on my outdoor trashcan while i reached under the cab on my truck to pull the plug in my access port. A gust of wind came and blew the can which made the antenna fall to the ground (4 ft fall). Do you think i could have damaged the antenna? I havent been able to get the cb to transmit or recieve properly but i think its a cb issue as it flickered when i hooked it up and the the display is black (Its a night watch version). I got a swr reading of 1.5 on 1 and it doesnt even budge on 20 or 40. It was stored in a damp garage and probably has been tossed half a dozen times by my nieces while rummaging through grandma's stuff. How do i ensure its a radio issue and not a broke antenna from the small fall it took? Btw...i ordered me a new 29 classic tonight from walmart but am scared to hook it to this antenna in case its been damaged and is bad. Would hate to damage or fry something internal on my new radio. The good news is its probably gonna be easy to determine if its the radio or antenna thats bad by hooking one up then the other but as i said i fear ill damage the new one if the antenna is faulty. Any imput guys?

p.s. the swr reading was from the onboard meter of the original 29. i have ordered me a cheap external meter to check against the on board for future reference. Sorry for the rookie questions i have searched but just dont know where to go with this now.

 

ok...well my father n law was one of those guys that did try to have bigger and better so this radio may have been tweeked. I know the date on the back is 1992 so its a little older. I guess what i am really struggling with is how do you know your gear is all working. I live in a smaller town without much action on the waves. If antenna's rarely go bad, you get two different readings on the swr, and your not sure on the condition of your radio what do you do?

As a side note....today i was on the interstate and for the first time since install i got some action on the radio. Not sure how far away these truckers were but i did at least get some in coming communication. I didnt attempt to transmit as i wasn't sure my gear was working properly and didnt want to interrupt the two that were talking.

I got the new radio on order and it may not be needed now but as stated before...how do ya really know?

Also been thinking....considering the size of my 29 and the ammount it will get used i may look into a smaller unit like one of the cobra 19's or a cheaper uniden 68. Of course i realize that the new 29 wasnt expensive considering its only 95 bucks but i was looking today and it was HUGE when held up to where i was gonna mount it..... decisions decisions