Reddit reviews Signstek Professional UV Dual Band Standing-Wave Meter Power Meter SWR/Power Meter for Testing SWR Power

Not sure if you are wanting help with homebrew antennas, or help setting up commercial antennas...but if it's homebrew:

Start simple. You'll need a cordless drill and a hacksaw.

Look at your closest Home Depot or Lowes, and check it out for antenna building materials. Gauge 12 or 10 solid electrical wire? Perfect for temporary UHF dipoles or quarter wave groundplane antennas. Flat bar aluminum 1/4"x1/8"? Good for permanent VHF/UHF antennas.

Plastic HDPE cutting boards? It's not a cutting board, it's substrate for mounting antennas, just cut-to-size with a hacksaw.

You will need SMA-BNC adapters for your Baofeng, some ferrite cores (material 61 for VHF, 43 for HF) for chokes and current baluns.

Get an assortment of small machine screws at varying lengths for mounting the radiators and radials.

For 2m and UHF, get a cheap tripod from Amazon as a starting mount for experimenting.

https://www.amazon.ca/AmazonBasics-60-Inch-Lightweight-Tripod-Bag/dp/B005KP473Q/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tripod&qid=1564085987&s=gateway&sr=8-3

Get small U-bolts for mounting the antenna to a pole or to the tripod. If you don't want to go too high, some PVC water pipe (sturdy 600PSI, not 200) will work as a semi-permanent pole.

You'll need an SWR meter:

https://www.amazon.ca/Signstek-Professional-Standing-Wave-Meter-Testing/dp/B00GNVJ8IU/ref=pd_sbs_504_11?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00GNVJ8IU&pd_rd_r=7cc9688c-285e-4f7e-8dc1-65e94cc1f1e7&pd_rd_w=tIvyt&pd_rd_wg=KaphE&pf_rd_p=5dcda75b-8643-4da3-9bb1-5c0233790500&pf_rd_r=B74WZVNRQY8XFYZ505AE&psc=1&refRID=B74WZVNRQY8XFYZ505AE

And if you want to do HF, an antenna analyzer (shockingly, these cheap chinese MR100 copies usually work ok):

https://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Shortwave-Antenna-Analyzer-Transparent/dp/B07NRXP85M/ref=sr_1_7?crid=12ERBWHIRZNIU&keywords=antenna+analyzer&qid=1564087191&s=gateway&sprefix=antenna+an%2Celectronics%2C195&sr=8-7

The most common cable is RG58. It's not ideal for UHF, but it'll do, it's flexible, and is easily crimped.

https://www.amazon.ca/Amphenol-CO-058BNCX200-012-Black-Coaxial-Cable/dp/B00O070EQO/ref=pd_sbs_23_3/144-3394476-5564231?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00O070EQO&pd_rd_r=5bbbd7a4-9094-48c1-9d14-b06629b85e12&pd_rd_w=JH7VS&pd_rd_wg=NxPFW&pf_rd_p=5dcda75b-8643-4da3-9bb1-5c0233790500&pf_rd_r=MQJGSGEZ577KF8KSYEGV&psc=1&refRID=MQJGSGEZ577KF8KSYEGV

And here are some other links that should give you ideas:

https://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/antennas/your-first-antenna-the-half-wave-dipole/

https://m0ukd.com/calculators/quarter-wave-ground-plane-antenna-calculator/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pole_antenna

https://palomar-engineers.com/tech-support/tech-topics/best-hf-end-fed-antenna

https://www.w8ji.com/end-fed_1_2_wave_matching_system_end%20feed.htm

http://www.hbphoto.com/Radio/Baluns_101.pdf

https://www.qsl.net/dk7zb/Baluns/current_balun.htm

Ok so get this. . .

I just got this SWR meter in the mail (was expecting it later this week) along with a short LMR400 jumper that I had ordered. Hooked both up between the radio and the RG-59/U feedline and as far as I can tell, the SWR is 1.2?

Even more confused now. What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Professional-Standing-Wave-Meter-Testing/dp/B00GNVJ8IU/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1479832978&sr=1-3&keywords=vhf+swr+meter

This is the one I use :

https://www.amazon.com/Signstek-Professional-Standing-Wave-Meter-Testing/dp/B00GNVJ8IU/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541165954&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=ham+swr+meter&dpPl=1&dpID=510CRwSLaUL&ref=plSrch

It says it only covers to 450MHz but seems to work fine at 462. But there are lots of cheaper and more expensive ones on Amazon, just check reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GNVJ8IU/

This is probably the most popular one I've seen. Seems to work well enough.