larsen antennas are primarily made for commercial/industrial aplications, so 
their built very very well.
They happen to make some amateur band antennas as wel and as you know Jim, 
they last a really long time with little maintinence required.
Not like some other types which need to be taken apart every year or two and 
cleaned and de rusted and fiddled with to keep working.
I've got a 3 inch larsen NMO mag mount that has been going for 13 years now 
without a hitch.
My MFJ quarter wave mag mount has had to be totally rebuilt twice now due to 
rust, corosion and generally cheap crappy metal parts...of course, it was a 
20 dollar antenna and the larsen mag mount alone cost me 40 bucks back then.
As I've said before, with ham radio stuff, the more you pay, the better it 
is...that's a rule of thumb it seems.  Though obviously the baofeng radios 
have kind of put that rule of thumb to the ultimate test haven't they.
73
Colin, V A6BKX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Gammon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 05, 2013 1:49 AM
Subject: Re: a couple antenna questions


> Congratulation's on your license Zach.  I  concur  with Colin and David's
> remarks about mag mount antennas.  I would just add that I have owned both 
> a
> 2 meter five eighths Larsen, and a dual band 2 meter, 70 CM Larsen antenna
> which is the one I most often use.  You want the most gain you can get for
> the little output you will get from your HT.  If you don't have an 
> alternate
> way of powering the rig from the car, you will soon eat up your battery
> power if you run the rig on its high power.  I always try to use as little
> transmitting power as necessary which is the rule anyway.  Back on the mag
> mount antennas, I have had the Larsons for probably 20 years and they 
> still
> are working fine.  The fewer connectors you need in line, the better 
> because
> each new connector will introduce some degree of signal loss.   I don't
> think I ever tuned the antennas, maybe once many years ago.  Good luck on
> programming the rig and have a safe and fun trip.  Jim WA6EKS
>
>
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Zach Shifflett
> Sent: Tuesday, June 04, 2013 11:05 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: a couple antenna questions
>
> Hi all.
> Still haven't gotten my license yet, but it should be coming in some
> time this week.
> I just received my radio in the mail, though.  It's a baofeng uv5r
> duel band handheld.
> I'm taking an extended road trip in a few days, and assuming my
> license is in by that point, I want to work some repeaters up and down
> the east coast as we travel.
> I plan on replacing the standard rubber duck with a mag mount for the
> roof of our car, and am looking for some advice.
> I'd like one that I can use with relatively little hastle on both the
> 2 m and 70 cm bands, though if I would be better off using a single
> band antenna, I'd rather work 2m.
> I've read a lot of stuff online about tuning, and how much tuning is
> necessary for these antennas.  Is there a duel band I could use
> without tuning?  If not, could I get a single band to operate on 2m?
> If I do end up having to tune the antenna, what's the best way to
> accomplish this?  Is there a talking swr meter out there somewhere?
> I know I'll need to tune antennas in the future, especially for dxing
> and hf work, but as a total newbie, I'd kind of just like to get on
> the air for a little while before I have to spend a lot of money on
> talking tuners and taking my radio apart.
> Thanks for any advice!
> Zach