In article ,
Meat Plow wrote:

I've been fighting off the temptation to just remove the SMA, drill out
the hole, and replacing it with a BNC.

That might be difficult considering the SMA on the VX-5 is recessed. Also
I don't know if there's room inside bor the butt end of a BNC.

What I was thinking, was mounting the BNC on the top of the case...
there appears to be enough metal surrounding the recessed-SMA mounting
hold to support it. Stick the "butt end" of the BNC down through the
SMA mounting hole and into the case. I'd probably need to fix it into
place with epoxy rather than using a nut, though.

It'd certainly be an invasive mod, and probably quite unnecessary. I
wouldn't do it unless I didn'd mind trashing the radio - or at least
the case. If I even run into a "beater" VX-5, with an intact case but
a fried radio, I might buy it and just try modding the case.

I've had to tighten up the SMA on mine maybe twice. But I also use an OEM
antenna and I'm not sure if that contributes because the OEMS don't seat
all the way down in. I ended up putting a small grommet around the bottom
of the SMA on the radio so the antenna tightens down on the chassis
rather than just the threads. Seems to have cured the problem.

I generally use an SMA-to-BNC adapter, with a grommit-like arrangement
made out of a couple of thicknesses of rubber tubing, and then use an
aftermarket BNC antenna.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
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