Wow, I have no idea where the nervous breakdown occurred in the first message I tried to send on this subject, so I'll try again.

Some of what I said has been covered in other postings, so I will shorten this new message a bit.

The manner in which the matching coil is connected at the base of most 5/8 or half wave antennas is what causes the DC short indication when you check between the center pin and the shell of the PL259, or whatever is on the radio end of your coax. This is only a DC, or electrical short, not an RF short. After 42 years of playing with antennas, I sometimes don't understand all I know about that statement myself, so for the purpose of this discussion, just know that it does indeed work that way.

If you replace the 5/8 wave antenna with a simple quarter wave antenna, or remove the antenna altogether, there is no loading coil at the base, and you will not see a DC short unless you have a problem in the coax or in the connector.

I use an MFJ window mount which, as the Comet info described, is intended for use with an HT rubber duck, or at the most, a quarter wave.

I run mine with a homemade quarter wave that is exactly what somebody else mentioned earlier, a PL259 with a 19 inch whip soldered to the center pin. Mine was actually brazed, because I used the remains of a steel whip which was salvaged from a broken CB antenna.

I simply adapt the PL259 to the BNC connector on the MFJ mount, hang it on the window, and away we go.

I tried adding two radials inside the car by slipping 2 #26 gage wires under two of the screws which hold the MFJ mount together. I then spread the wires apart, and held them in place along the bottom of the right side rear seat window with small suction cups.

This assembly resembled the shape of the print letter Y.

Adding the two radials did make a difference in the performance, but not as much as I thought it would.

This Comet mount sounds like a good one, and for Tom at least, the price was certainly right.

If you can't find an MNO to PL259 adapter, there are numerous antennas out there which will fit that SO239 mount.

Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs