Best Ham Radio Mobile Antenna

[KJs JK]

I just got my ham radio license over the weekend and i have a Yaesu FT60-R mobile transceiver.

I am looking for advice on the best mobile antenna for the VHF/UHF bands to get mounted opposite my CB antenna on the spare tire mount. Trying to avoid the magnetic mount since it couldn't go on the soft top.

[laffman]

Just got a handheld dual band a couple months ago. I'm new to the dual bands. I've been researching antenas for the Jeep to connect the handheld to. The one that's gotten consistently good reviews is the Comet CA-2X4SRNMO.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=AWHEELI3SYPUS

Here's it's reviews on eham.net:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2082

Haven't bought it yet, so can't speak to how good it is. But I think it's the one I'll be going with.

Cable and mount: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...A1BW14T7KC6E0Q

Spring to allow the antenna to bend over: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...=AJVLD9QL76QMK

[Xaberi]

Lets see if I can add something useful to all this.

I bought an ICOM base station this year, its 100 watts multi-band (2 meters to 160 meters) and I coupled it to a dipole antenna (ZS6BKW G5RV ZS80) that I temporarily hoisted a whopping 20 feet up in the air. I'm considering putting up a wind turbine so I might get a real tower soon.
I was able to pick up chatter from all over the USA. But since I'm not a licensed ham, I just listened.

For Christmas, my Santa, brought me a Yaesu FT60R and I've been playing around with it for the past couple days listening.

Listening to a repeater 26 miles away, I could hear conversations very clearly.

I decided I needed to know how effective the 12 inch rubber duck antenna is and figured I'd bend the rules a bit, just once.

I was also able to transmit to that repeater 26 miles away while sitting in front of my home computer. It took me a few minutes to figure out that I had to program in something called a PL tone for it to work, but once I did, it worked like a charm. On my very first attempt, my "CQ radio check" was acknowledged. Of course, once I knew others could hear me, I stopped transmitting as all I wanted to do was to make sure it actually worked.

My santa didn't just get me the Yeasu FT60R on a whim by luck, it was something I've been researching so I could find a portable solution to talk back to the base station in a SHTF and for something I could recommend to friends and neighbors.

Would a Bofang radio do the same? I'm sure it would, but I didn't buy my radio for hobby use while camping, I bought it to serve me in times when I'm going to depend on it, possibly my life will depend on it.

With that in mind, I certainly wouldn't purchase Chinese hardware for such purposes.

You purchase Chinese stuff when you don't mind exchanging it at walmart or throwing it out.
You purchase high quality stuff when its going to be used for important things.
Yesterday, on Youtube, a very interesting video was posted on this topic, I think someone might come in handy. I hope this helps with the choice. Good luck!