solid roof mount - NMO

[WSES772]

so the car wash finally ate my nagoya magnet roof mount and mtxa25.  which is wild since its been through several hundred washes.  pretty sure an over agressive top roller got it and *yoink* go bye bye

 

so its time to finally do a permeant mount .

 

looking for a thru the roof option and i see two basic solutions

 

https://www.amazon.com/Vehicle-Antenna-Installation-Extension-Kenwood/dp/B077P26SY3/

 

through mount with attached cable

or something like this

https://www.amazon.com/Anina-Connector-Assembly-Adapter-Mounting/dp/B0DFLMTLD4/

nmo->SO239 and just use a good quality pl259 cable with like a 90 degree adapter on it?

 

i will be drilling the roof of both my silverado crew cab and a 2013 sonic hatchback and burying the cable under the headliner.

 

am i missing a better option?  any experience doing a mount like this - good, bad or indifferent?

i do have steel offroad bumpers and could mount there on my truck, but i'd rather go thru the roof to get the antenna height, especially for around town when i dont have my MTXA26 whip on the roof and i'm running the little stubby.  just trying to avoid losing *another* $50 antenna and $35 antenna mount, while not having to dismount it off the roof every time i wanna  get a carwash


also-  i do have a fiberglass topper on the bed of the silverado, wouldnt be against mounting on there, but that would mean i'd need a ground plane of some type.  i dont want to do a mount with the 3 ground plane stubs coming off it, and know that something as simple as a peice of metal (like even using a baking pan with a magnet mount for outdoor/non vehicle usage) can work as a functional gorund plane.  would it be possible to mount said ground plane inside the fiberglass topper and have it functinal? or would it need to be external to be useful?   Just making sure i'm not overlooking an easy option that allows me to skip drilling a hole in the cab of my truck if need be.


TIA for all your feedback!

[WRYZ926]

People epoxy sheet metal to the underside of toppers all the time. And that works fine for a ground plane. Having good contact between the NMO mount and a sheet metal ground plane is what matters.

[WRTC928]

I don't think there would be room for the Anina NMO+90 degree adapter between the headliner and roof of either of my vehicles. You probably should do some measurements before you decide.

[WSHH887]

On the Silverado. I have a Tacoma and mounted a MTXA26 on a mount that attaches to tailgate area using existing bolts. I happen to have a steel bed cover from Peragon.  This works very well. 
There as several repeaters some distance from me that I can hit. 
 

I have an NMO mount on the bracket. Being tailgate level it is easy to remove the antenna before going to the car wash. 

[gortex2]

I only run the larsen NMO now and for the price you can't beat the mount. Spend a few bucks more and get a quality mount. If you plan to keep a vehicle this mount will outlast most. 

https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/antennas-mounts/mobile-antenna-mounts/nmo-mobile-antenna-mounts/266-permanent-hole-mounts/291-nmo-3-4-hole-mount-high-frequency/1126-larsen-nmokhfudfme-detail

Center of roof on truck will be great with a 1/4 wave

 

[WRQI583]

I run regular NMO mounts on my mini-van and they hold up perfectly fine. 
One thing to note however is that with some car washes, the sensors that control the rollers may see your antenna regardless of whether or not it is hard mounted or mag mount and will lift that roller right up over the vehicle as if something is blocking it. I run 2 1/4wave VHF antennas (about 18-19in) and the roller wont even wash the top or back of the vehicle because of it. Other than that, they definitely can take a beating. I have had 49" antennas with no spring on my vehicle before (NMO mounted) and would whack certain trees at a job I worked and they would still be intact and working fine.