I've seen it happen... some dumb chick had hers unlatched and took a corner on 2 wheels and I just watched the carrier swing out and BANG... I pee'd a little watching that I was laughing so hard.

 

ouch... I have to slam mine to get it latched so I'm pretty careful in making sure its latched on when I go

 

i let my friend latch mine one time......that was a very poor choice, it wasn't closed all the way and when i took the first turn it slammed closed...thankfully i wasn't turning the other way so it didn't rip the entire rack off.

 

that would make me feel like **** if that happened

 

I wont lie...I've dont it a few times. Pull out of the driveway and all of a sudden "BANG"...look back and the tire carrier is swinging lol.

 

lol it will probably end up happening to me one of these days...

 

Have you checked the SWR since mounting your antenna? If the SWR is too high you may end up burning up the finals in your radio. Ideally, you want as much counterpoise (the other half of the antenna which in this case is the body of the vehicle) under the antenna as possible. That location will also make your rx/tx very directional. If you plan on having a radio in the vehicle full time it would be to your benefit to get an antenna (like a Wilson 1000 or 5000) and hard mount it on the roof. You would see a BIG difference in your abiltiy to rx/tx. The whips on them are also very forgiving so hitting a low hanging branch won't hurt them.

 

I mainly have it for looks and use it to yell at a truck driver every once in a while, and whenever I get a membership to the local off road park I might use it there. I'm not real worried about my radio blowing up it was a $20 walmart special

 

I gotcha - Just didn't know your level of knowledge/experience with radios and didn't want to see your next post being about your radio going south. I also have a CB and an HF/VHF/UHF amateur radio I plan on installing in my Blazer. Enjoy...

 

Same here.

Left the car wash and turned "BANG". First thought was that I got hit by another car or something lol.