Gerry:

I'd love to put new coax on my magmount, but the thing is totally sealed up, 
so that trying to get it apart would be a major project that might result in 
my not being able to seal the mount back up well enough to keep moisture 
out.

That's probably how they are able to sell new magmounts to people.  (smile)

The trunk mount might be a possibility though, and I'm going to check one 
out at our next ham fest in the area here in a month or so.

Tom Behler: KB8TYJ

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gerry Learry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2013 4:15 PM
Subject: Re: Mobile Antenna Mount Options


> Hey Tom,
>
> Trunk mounts can work very well.  They clamp on to the lip of the Trunk 
> lid
> close to the wind shield.  You can put a little piece of Rubber tubing on
> the tip of the Ante nna so that when you open the Trunk it doesn't scratch
> the glass or top of the car.  I used one with an Antenna that worked for 2
> and 440.  Also maybe you can put new Coax on your Mag Mount.
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tom Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2013 1:44 PM
> Subject: Mobile Antenna Mount Options
>
>
>> Hi, all.
>>
>> I need to tap into the wisdom of the group here concerning mobile antenna
>> mounts.
>>
>> To set the background, the XYL and I have  leased a Subaru Forester for
>> about the last 3 years, and I have been using a magnount antenna mount 
>> for
>> the Diamond 770 dual-band antenna that I have used for years with our
>> family
>> vehicles.  I bought this particular  magmount about 2 years ago, to
>> replace
>> one that had been failing or at least questionable for quite some time.
>> We
>> put the magmount in the center of the roof of the car, and try to thread
>> the
>> feedline as carefully as possible into the back door of the vehicle, 
>> where
>> it then goes to a TMV71A underneath the front drivers seat.
>>
>> This set-up has actually worked surprisingly well, but I'm now  having a
>> problem with the coax feed line to the current magmount.  I have noticed
>> several breaks along the feed line, one or two of which could have been
>> caused by inadvertently closing the back vehicle door on the coax feed
>> line.
>> Again, I had thought we were avoiding this problem, but maybe not.  Also,
>> one or two of the breaks seem to be caused by the outside jacket of the
>> feed
>> line becoming very brittle and actually splitting.
>>
>> So, I'm now thinking of other possible ways to mount my mobile antenna.
>> Things, of course, are complicated in that we can't drill holes in the
>> leased vehicle.
>>
>> One option I had thought of is a trunk mount, but I'm having trouble
>> envisioning how such a mount would work when you open up the trunk for
>> storing groceries and other things.  Also, I can't imagine that the
>> antenna
>> on a trunk mount would work very well anyway, since it is so much lower
>> than
>> the roof of the vehicle.
>>
>> Has anyone had experience with trunk mounts?
>>
>> If I stick to a magmount, does anyone have a magical formula for 
>> threading
>> the feed line from the outside of the vehicle into the car so as to avoid
>> problems with it getting caught in the door
>>
>> ?Is there a better-quality  magmount out there that has stronger feed 
>> line
>> that might not be as susceptible  to breaking or splitting?
>>
>> Obviously, I've got lots of questions here, so any help would be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Tom Behler: KB8TYJ
>