I'm stumped on a problem I've been having with a Comet UHV-4 quad band
antenna (10m/6m/2m/70cm). It's mounted to a Comet CP-5M mobile mount
on my Saturn SL1. The problem I have is that I cannot get it to
tune. I figure that it's an insufficient RF ground. I've tried
running braid from a good ground location in the trunk to the mount
(good metal to metal contact on the "car" end of the braid). Still
nothing.

So I was wondering if there would be a way to tune the antenna off the
car. I was thinking of creating a ground plane with several 1/4
wavelength wires on each of the bands, and then adjusting the antenna
to bring it into tune. That way I would know if the ground braid I
put into the car is working well enough.

Does this make sense? Or is it a wasted effort, and I should spend my
time on improving the ground in the car? What would you do?

73,
Patrick N3EO