shop is 6 miles away. and radios and ham.
From my house--go like going to Ivy Bluff and turn left instead of right at the first turn. Go 2 miles--on the left. 1484 Pleasant View Rd.
That's why there are no radios in my truck. I had used mag-mounts on my F150 forever--and the paint had suffered. I put some mag-mounts on this truck, but quickly realized that "temporary" can be long enough to foul the paint.
I had Wilsons and all that crap. Two things CB'ers need to know about antennas. One--don't try to feed DUALS. Put 'em on there fine--but even if you do get them properly matched (phased) you'll be creating a short-WIDE radiation pattern. Second--the most bang-for-the-buck, theft resistant, power handling antenna out there for CB is STILL the 102" whip. Less than $20 last one I bought.
And some more radio stuff. Nicked, Pinched, Kinked, Squashed, or otherwise compromised coax will foul up the whole mess. When SWR's don't make sense--yank that feedline and put in fresh.
SWR. don't sweat anything under 1. 5:1. It's a waste of time. And SWR are NOT a measure of antenna performace. It is an electrical matchup. If you have a 4' Firestik that matches to 1. 2:1 and a 102" that matches to 1. 5:1, the 102 will probably PERFORM better-because of the characteristics of the antenna. No it won't perform better than a 102" at 1. 2:1. Where can you get a 1:1 perfect match? Dummy load--electrically perfect, effective radiation equals zero.
And for a $10 license (valid for 10-years) and about $100 worth of equipment (used) Mark and I COULD talk from his area (Lebanon/Gallitan) to my area (Woodbury-etc. ) any day of the week and most of the rest of middle TN. They've about killed the morse code requirements (them bastuds). The test is given almost every month at some location. M'boro, Lebanon, Sparta, Columbia to name a few.
W1ADE --my ham call, previously KF4GFZ