Review on Dodge Ram / Dakota Hood Mount Kit for FireStik MK-184R: Enhancing Compatibility by Timothy Louis

Excellent kit. Excellent fit and finish. Connected to a Bearcat 998SSB with a 3 foot Firestik II antenna with a spring SWR of 1.00 Ch 1 and 1.2 Ch 40 with no tuning. Wonderful. I've tried the K30 magnetic mount before (less installation hassle, easy to remove) and couldn't consistently get 1 out of 7 weather frequencies to hear NOAA reports. That's why I bought the Bearcat CB. What a disappointment when I get best reception from a Uniden Atlantis 250 portable marine radio in my concrete basement! So I wanted to forego the wired antenna configuration and "try again" despite the K30's excellent reviews. Well all I can say is day vs night. I completed a rather complicated installation, turned on CB and turned on the weather scan. It is not scanned. It received an excellent signal on 4 out of 7 frequencies - 1 better than what I was expecting from a marine handheld. Wow, what a difference in so many ways: superb fantastic reception, no longer needs to take it off to get in or out of the garage, it's powerful, it looks terrible and it stays on all the time. Ugly now. Installation wasn't easy. First I had to paint the bracket to match the color of the truck. when a conventional soldering gun is heated for a long time). Otherwise, just keep twisting the connector over the cable and stacked copper strands until it stops spinning (the inside of the connector looks like it's actually threaded instead of smooth, so it'll bite). The instructions for this are very lame, especially if you are a beginner. But apparently there are more detailed instructions on the website etc. However, I didn't need/use any additional resources. All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3 foot antenna), very. All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). it's easy, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). it's easy, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). 3 foot antenna), very. All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna). 3 foot antenna), very. All inclusive: 3 hours. While not very complicated, saying it's easy can be misleading, especially when you want a professional look and performance. Regardless, I highly recommend this kit and all of the FireStik hardware I purchased after this install (spring, 3ft antenna).