Mag mount replacement coax

[Southwales]

Hi, I have heard people mention they replace the coax on there Mag mounts for something better, but what are the options when you still need something flexible and not to thick for tighter car door clearences? Also my 4 nch nagoya mount let go yesterday at 60mph and a few days earlier the 3.5 inch Nagoya mount done the same. The naygoa S80 antenna attached is only 78cm tall and very skinny so if they can not support such a light weight antenna they are pretty useless in my opinion. Have just ordered a new 7 inch turbo mount in the hope it does not happen again, when they let go at speed they really bang about as they swing from the coax, luckily each time I could pull over within a few hundred yards and so far the antenna has survived.

[m0lsx]

I have a dual band micro mag antenna & that stays attached at motorway speeds. I have also had various other mag mounts & have only lost mag mounts after hitting things like branches or on one occasion when a bird hit the antenna loading coil.

[Chris P]

I have also had a similar experience with magmounts of various sizes to Alan (m0lsx) and have never lost one at high speed. However I have seen magmounts fitted with sheets of plastic or material wrapped around them (presumably to protect the paintwork) lying at the side of motorways . I always ensure that the coax from the door/ window is kept taut as loose coax can flap/vibrate around and dislodge the magnet.

With regards to the coax diameter due to the very short lengths involved for reception antennas I would use RG174 but for transmitting antennas at HF (CB) and VHF (2m,4m, or 6m) in this instance RG58 is acceptable but care is needed as to how it is fed out of the interior of the vehicle.

[Minus1]

If only car manufacturers had the initiative to provide a roof mount antenna point to which you could easily fit your own antenna to best suit what you want to listen to; connected to a DIN radio mounting point in to which you could fit the radio you want, without having to disassemble half the dashboard

In a galaxy far far away …

[G4RMT]

Modern cars just have too many curved panels for smaller mag mounts, UNLESS they are designed to have a raised lip all the way around to sit properly on a curved panel. Lots seem to be completely flat, and these ones are the ones that fall off. The lipped versions usually have a better magnet too, as it is always a small distance away from the metal. I always buy my mag mounts from taxi firm suppliers - they're more expensive but stay on!

[Southwales]

I also have one of the mini antennas and they stay attached to the car very well, but since buying the larger Nagoya s80 antenna I am noticing a huge difference in reception, the other day I was in Wrexham and could clearly hear people in Liverpool and birkenhead talking on the out of the box baofeng frequencies, I quickly switched back to the mini antenna and received nothing at all, it is the same with other frequencies, they now come in a lot sooner than they use to and are a lot clearer so I could no longer go back to using the mini antenna, I wonder if it is mainly down to the s80 performance or also the less signal loss of rg58 over rg174? I also tried the diamond MRQ500 https://damsu.co.uk/two-way-radio/anten ... oANoWenzMI using the same mag mount base, and it was hard to tell the difference in performance over the s80 but I am fairly sure the s80 did have the edge on performance, not sure if that is down to the extra loading coil on the s80 maybe?

I have all the adapters to go from the fitted pl259 to sma and bnc so I can use on both my scanner and uv5r, Dont have a need to use the actual pl259 plug, would there be any benefit to removing the fitted pl plug and fitting a screw on f connector?, as I also have all the adapters to go from f connector to sma/bnc, thinking it could be a little easier and less weight on the aerial connection of my radios.

I am noticing a lot more people using the out of the box baofeng frequencies, especially the 888s frequencies so well worth having in your radio.

[m0lsx]

What mag mount are you using on the Nagoya S80? I use a good 4 inch mag mount, as a minimum, on any antenna but those antennas which come as a antenna/ mag mount unit.
When I used 2 meters FM, I used a 5/8th wave on a 4 inch mag & had no issues with that, the same with my 6 meter antenna, which has has a very large loading coil.
As for the changing coax on mag mounts, I have looked around & personally I can see no talk about that. Either on here or on any of the amateur radio forums. So I am not sure where you picked that up from.
Personally I really do not see why anyone would want to do it. The potential gains are at best very negligible & pulling a mag mount to pieces seems like a silly thing to do. As they sit out in all weather with rain being driven at & into them & they are built to take a size of coax & surely changing that will mean bodging the base at a point where you do not want water ingress & even at 40 - 50 mph you WILL get water ingress if you mess about with the base.
I use to drive HGV's & sheeting a load against water ingress is an art. But if you really do want to change the coax then get a triple mag mount, as on those you can simply unbolt the coax from the base. But be prepared for scratches as triple mags are like limpets & are difficult to place & remove delicately & I have even heard of a strong magnetic base effecting paint.

[Southwales]

What mag mount are you using on the Nagoya S80? I use a good 4 inch mag mount, as a minimum, on any antenna but those antennas which come as a antenna/ mag mount unit.
When I used 2 meters FM, I used a 5/8th wave on a 4 inch mag & had no issues with that, the same with my 6 meter antenna, which has has a very large loading coil.
As for the changing coax on mag mounts, I have looked around & personally I can see no talk about that. Either on here or on any of the amateur radio forums. So I am not sure where you picked that up from.
Personally I really do not see why anyone would want to do it. The potential gains are at best very negligible & pulling a mag mount to pieces seems like a silly thing to do. As they sit out in all weather with rain being driven at & into them & they are built to take a size of coax & surely changing that will mean bodging the base at a point where you do not want water ingress & even at 40 - 50 mph you WILL get water ingress if you mess about with the base.
I use to drive HGV's & sheeting a load against water ingress is an art. But if you really do want to change the coax then get a triple mag mount, as on those you can simply unbolt the coax from the base. But be prepared for scratches as triple mags are like limpets & are difficult to place & remove delicately & I have even heard of a strong magnetic base effecting paint.

I used 3.5 mag that the seller supplied with the s80, he sells it as a complete set on eBay. It is far from water proof anyway, the design I would say was quite poor, the rubber mount comes up over the base and allows water to seep into the exposed magnet underneath see video, https://youtu.be/WwrB82dtz6g it is hard finding a decent mag these days so have been left with only these 2 as an option https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SO239-MAGNET ... 2749.l2649 and a 7 inch limpet from damsu, I was going to invest in a sirio but the coax is only 3.5 metre and I just get away with 4 metre as it is, I need to go in through the boot hatch as that is the only place without crushing the coax, ideally I could do with 5 metre so I could thread the coax below the seats.

Edit, I also have a 4 inch Nagoya mag mount but it looks the part but the magnet is not very strong and has also detached at 60mph. I am hoping the 7 Inch limped solves my problems, it seems a bit over kill for the little s80 Nagoya but I don't want to chance the antenna coming loose again, last time it nearly ended up under my car tyres because of the saying was left dangling from the coax.

[m0lsx]

I have just realised I put 4 inch mag mount, rather than 6 or 7 inches..Sorry. Under 4 inches for a large antenna with a loading coil half way up, is too small.
The 6 inch you linked to, should do the job nicely.
Knights do a 5 inch mag mount with 5 meters (17 feet of coax.) As well as a good selection of other mag mounts. They are no more expensive than ebay & they unlike ebay dealers, know what they are selling.
I have been using Knights for bits & pieces since around 1980 & rate them very highly.
http://www.kcb.co.uk/shop2/contents/en-uk/d35.html

[Southwales]

I have just realised I put 4 inch mag mount, rather than 6 or 7 inches..Sorry. Under 4 inches for a large antenna with a loading coil half way up, is too small.
The 6 inch you linked to, should do the job nicely.
Knights do a 5 inch mag mount with 5 meters (17 feet of coax.) As well as a good selection of other mag mounts. They are no more expensive than ebay & they unlike ebay dealers, know what they are selling.
I have been using Knights for bits & pieces since around 1980 & rate them very highly.
http://www.kcb.co.uk/shop2/contents/en-uk/d35.html

Hi, yes did look at knights at the sirio range just a shame the coax is shorter than most on them, noticed the 5 inch mag mount with 17ft coax, just a shame it is not available with so239 socket as it looks good quality, unless it is available with an so239 but I could not find it.

Did you look at the video?, what do you think of the design with the rubber boot allowing water to get inside to the magnet, I am guessing the larger models in the range also follow that design including the limped and turbo version. I have already ordered the 6" crt mag from my link above, only git 3.8 metre of coax but should just get away with that. Can you see any reason why I should not change the pl to a sky f type fitting?