well there ya go.
you have combined a bad antenna mounting location with bad antennas.
that is why your SWR is high. your radio is probably fine, unless you have been transmitting with it over and over again into this high SWR.
it takes a lot to blow a radio's final transistor from a high SWR, but it does happen.
first of all, stay away from any CB antenna that is less than 5 feet long.
firestik antennas are crap antennas that are peddled to the 4-wheeler guys because they dont know any better.
an antenna needs counterpoise. that means a horizontal flat metal surface directly under the base of the antenna. a ground strap, no matter how much paint you scrape off, does not create this.
there is a HUGE difference between DC ground and RF ground, which is what we are dealing with when discussing antenna counterpoise.
remember that only the portion of your antenna that sticks up past the top of the vehicle is actually radiating a signal. the rest is radiating directly into the metal body of the vehicle.
signals exit an antenna out the sides, not out the top.
add all this up and you can see why your SWR is high.
i know a few guys into the off roading scene, and a few guys into the "truck club" scene.
they all want to run CB's in their trucks, but WILL NOT mount a big honkin' antenna on them.
once they find out that they have to have a big antenna that looks obnoxious (beautiful to some LOL) to get any sort of performance out of a CB radio, they drop the idea.
do some searches on this forum regarding mobile antenna setups and things like that.
you will learn a lot about what does and does not work well.
LC
