hmmm,
there's a Becker Mexico AM/FM/SW radio in the dash
and AOR 3000a scanner below the dash
and a Benelli M1 shotgun behind the seat....
i guess ya pays your money and ya makes your choices.

If you are looking for another antenna project,
consider buying a fiberglass tonneau
and then building any of the many loop antenna designs
that could be totally hidden underneath the tonneau.

http://www.cebik.com/radio.html

 

That's the beauty of the screwdriver. You can tweak it up & down until you get the lowest SWR. I use the swr graph function on the 706 and I can usually get it absolutely flat. 20 meters is sometimes not quite flat but I don't know why. That antenna was on the car I lost in Katrina and although it stayed above the waterline it was still subjected to 125mph winds. Then it sat unused for about a year and a half. I might have to take the rain shield off and clean the coil and fingerstock. I had an Outbacker hf antenna on my old '95 Ram. It worked great (confirmed 20 meter contact to McMurdo Station Antarctica!) but getting out to change a wire location to change bands wasn't much fun... expecially on the highway or in the rain

Short answer... if I can hear them I can work them. I got a 5/4 report into San Diego yesterday afternoon while rolling eastbound70 mph down I-10. I don't use an amplifier. The main thing to remember with mobile HF is ground. You MUST have a good ground. There arefour Allen screws holding the mounts to the door. I scratched the paint to bare metal under two on each mount and checked the ground with an ohmmeter to make sureI had a solid short to ground. I check those for tightness every week or so.

My next task is to attack the fuel pump and ignition noise.

Thanks to all for the positive comments!

 

Cebik is a friggin' genius!

My tonneau plans are to get a Pace Edwards Roll Top cover.