Quick Connect VHF Antenna/Mount

[dt5150]

hey guys. hoping somebody can provide some insight here. i had some radio problems last year where my buddies couldn't hear me even if they were only a couple hundred yards away. i suspect my antenna cable has been damaged by screwing it on and off every spring and fall. i do this so i can wrap the boat for winter, and i can't have the antenna sticking up. but i think that doing this so many times has likely broken the center conductor within the cable causing my problem. my antenna is mounted up on the roof of my hardtop with a flange type mount. the flange mount is basically a short section of tubing bolted to the top/roof. the antenna cable goes down inside the tubing, through the hardtop and into the overhead electronics box where the radio is installed.

 

i've been searching for an antenna that i can disconnect from the mount without the cable being attached to avoid the twisting. some type of quick disconnect system. i found that shakespeare makes a quickconnect antenna that would work perfectly, exactly the design i need, but they only seem to offer ratchet mounts for it, which i don't want. i don't want to drill 4 more holes in my hardtop to install a ratchet mount, and then have to route the antenna cable some other way into the electronics box. i want to utilize my existing flange mount so, a: i don't have to drill more holes. and, b: simple cable routing directly into the electronics box. 

 

is anyone aware of another brand or manufacturer that makes something like that?

 

here's an old pic of my rooftop. right now, my vhf antenna is on the flange with the gray cap on it and the lowrance gps antenna is long gone, my am/fm antenna is on there now. but my vhf radio is in the box directly under the antenna, cable goes down through the tube and right into the box.

[dt5150]

kind of a far away shot, but this is current.

[sunrizecharter1]

they sell an antenna like you said w/ a ratchet mount you can put on the gunnel of your boat, then lay it down in the winter. works great on my boat

[dt5150]

well, i found the shakespeare qc (quickconnect) antennas, but all they had for a mount is a ratchet, which i don't want. i found a shakespeare qc flange style mount on ebay so i ordered one up, and a 4 ft. qc antenna. i got the antenna already, but the mount is coming from england i think, so i'm still waiting on that. fingers crossed.