I have been very pleased with the performance of my Tram 3500 magnetic CB antenna. However, I am going to replace this unit with another rig.
I am wanting to buy a Laird or other brand NMO CB antenna.
Laird and Larsen will serve you well. I have a 30 year old Larsen NMO-27 that has been through a lot over the years, tree branch strikes, low parking garages, one bird strike and untold miles of washboarded roads. Investing in quality equipment will never steer you wrong.
However, I am confused about which
Tram NMO mount to buy. I am assuming this should be this one.
TRAM 1267R 5.5 Magnet-NMO Mounting with Rubber Boot (1267R) from Solid Signal
I gotta ask, and don't take offense by this, but why the hell would you buy a nice antenna like the Laird and then slap it on a Cheap Chinese Tram/Browning mount? That's sort of like buying a brand new Corvette and putting some cheap discount tires on it. Sort of blows the whole system.
Trust me, you can
easily do better than Tram. And you really should. No point in buying a nice antenna if you are going to use a cheap mount. And here's why...
My dad was putting a radio in his new truck. He bought all the parts and brought it over to my place so I could help. He showed up with a Tram/Browning (same difference) NMO mount. I was disappointed and offered him one of my Larsen mounts, but he was OK with what he had. We cut the connector off the end to route the cable and I threw it on my bench. We put a new connector on and everything was OK. The Tram/Browning coax seems to be OK. Not super stuff, but as good as the low end stuff I've seen from US based companies. The NMO mount looked OK, again, not great, but looks like it'll work. Fast forward a few days and I remember the cut off connector on my bench. I decided to dissect it to see what the quality was like. I won't say I was disappointed, because I figured it would be trash. They didn't let me down. The only thing holding the connector on the cable was the strain relief and the soldered center conductor. That's not enough. The outer jacket was not crimped, just stuffed in the connector and it looked like someone hit it with a center punch to hold the jacket in place until they put the strain relief moulding over it. Pure junk. And it's not enough of a cost savings to say "it was worth it". Glad we cut it off.
Seriously, you can do better, and if the few buck difference between the cheap-azz Tram and a better name brand (non-Chinese) mount is too much, at least get the connector replaced.
Marketing. There is no difference between a "CB" NMO mount and one that isn't. The nice thing about NMO mounts is that they are standardized and an NMO mount from any manufacturer should work with any NMO base antenna. Get a decent NMO mag mount if that's what you need.
I looked at one mount that had 7 feet of coax. Since I am aware of the formula between the CB frequency range and length of coax, generally 17 feet, I am getting a bit confused.
CB'ers have been able to perpetuate this "17 feet of coax" thing for decades now. Not sure how they've done it, but they have, and my hats off to them.
But it's pure B.S. The correct length of cable you need is the length required to get from the antenna to your radio. No more, no less.
The idea behind specific lengths of coax is that it can "hide" poorly tuned antennas from the radio. It doesn't fix anything, just hides a poorly tuned/installed antenna from the radio. That might make the SWR read low, but it doesn't mean the antenna is working right.
Anyway, 17-18 feet of coax will do that, but it doesn't take into account the velocity of propagation of the coaxial cable, and often leads to someone rolling up a bunch of unused coax and creating a choke.
Get a mount with enough cable to get from your mounting location to the antenna. That's all you need. Mount and tune your antenna properly and you'll be good to go. Any CB'er that will tell you that a specific length of cable is required for a single antenna doesn't know what he/she is talking about.
I could use some help.
I don't like the stinger on the Tram 3500 because I cannot unscrew the antenna from the mount.
Like the others, I'd say go with a permanent mount NMO, it'll work better in the long run. It does NOT detract from vehicle resale value. I've installed lots of NMO mounts on leased vehicles without issue when traded in. They will not leak if installed properly. They provide proper grounding for the antenna. They look better. You won't have to worry about the coaxial cable getting pinched/damaged in doors/windows.
I understand that sometimes a mag mount is the right tool for the job, but it's pretty rare. I keep one in my shop for testing, but I'd never use one as a permanent solution.
