Ok, I had a Cobra 25 WX NW ST.

Lately it was acting strange, like...with the squelch all the way down
on a dead channel, I still would hear no static. After futzing with it,
it seemed like if I jiggled the power cord, it would come in and out.
Later it seemed not to be the power specifically, but seemed like any
time i tapped on the back panel it might come in and go back out.

So I figured this was a short and looked for a new radio. Not being
heavily into this, I went with the Cobra 75 wx st, mainly because its
nice and compact and considering I'm in a Honda accord, the less space
it takes up, the better.

So when I hooked it up tonight, it didnt seem like anyone could hear me.
So I got my SWR meter out and did a test. Both channels 1 and 40 were
peaking well over 3 to 1. I read somewhere that's an indication of a
short in the antenna. Is this ALL that could cause this?

I question whether or not I have a grounding issue. I'm about to try
another antenna...although around here finding a decent one can be
tough. I saw this one from crap shack, which looked like the most decent
tunable one they had:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...%5Fid=21%2D972
Magnetic-Mount Mobile CB/Ham Antenna
$34.99
Catalog #: 21-972

Any suggestions? :/ Right now, temporarily, the power is run through cig
lighter adapter. I dont know anything about electrical wiring so I have
it that way until I can have someone do it. Even when my 25 was hard
wired, I still got interference noise from things like rolling up my
windows or my power radio antenna going up and down. Is that normal?

Thanks for your help! I hope to resolve this ASAP.