Typical antennas require a "ground plane"...or a horizontal surface to reflect the signal off of...and also an electrical ground on the bottom half of the mount.
On big rigs or motor homes...often times antennas have to be mounted on the side or on fiberglass and can't be completely above the roof line or grounded to metal.
The NO GROUND PLANE antennas are for those situations that use a bit of a different method to transmit and receive signals (from what I remember). I had asked about them at one point...and the consensus is unless you need it for a specific reason (no access to ground, driving a motor home made of fiber glass), there is no benefit and don't need one.
From my experience, the antenna is far more important than the radio. I like the built in SWR meter...I don't see a reason why it couldn't be built into the radio fairly successfully.
I got a cheap 30 buck Cobra CB at walmart...and it works pretty well with my 4' firestik and tuned antenna. All radios are governed to a certain power level, so transmitting and receiving comes down to your antenna set up and location