Drill Baby, Drill! Mount external antenna

[TropicGuy]

I am faced with a small dilemma. I have a small external cellphone antenna that I would like to mount to the roof of the Airstream, and run the cable in such a way that it ends up in the same area as the cd changer box. I just went and looked at the roof, and the easiest way to do this looks like removing the FM Antenna temporarily, sneaking the cellphone antenna wire alongside the FM antenna's wire, and fishing it back into the stereo system access panel area. I am very nervous about penetrating the skin of the airstream, and I think not making more holes in the roof is a good thing. Is this feasible, and also is there an easier/better way? I have seen the posts that display drilling holes into the skylight. This doesnt land the cable where I want it, and I dont think making holes in the skylight looks like a good idea. I would much prefer to surface mount the antenna very close to the FM antenna, and have their wires run into the Airstream side by side. Any help would be appreciated!

[zekethebear]

Years ago I mounted a cellphone antenna on the vent cover that exhausts hot air from the back side of the fridge. I was able to 'fish' the coax thru the wall on the side of the fridge into the 'living area', and use the phone at the dining table. I'm sure with a little forethought you could do the same thing and get the cable where you want it. You wouldn't have to drill any holes anywhere.

[markdoane]

If you drill into the aluminum, be careful. If you hook into a piece of fiberglas insulation you will wind up a ball of fiberglass on the drill bit. You need to reverse the drill to to unwind the fiberglas to pull the drill out.

[TropicGuy]

Thanks for the drilling advice. I went and looked at the roof, and the vent. I dont really want to run through the vent, as I want a more "factory" look to my install. The more I think and look at this issue, the more I am leaning towards drilling a new hole. I am just worried that I will drill the hole and then not be able to fish the cable into the radio area. My idea is to remove the fm antenna, and use its cable as a pull string to pull the antenna cable, and a second pull string through. Then I would attach the fm cable back to the pull string and pull it back through. By mounting the cellphone antenna right next to the FM antenna I am sort of guaranteed access, and its a really short run to the box where the antenna lead needs to land. I am getting into very dangerous territory with this. What are the chances that this would work? More specifically does anyone know if that FM antenna cable is harnessed to the frame or in some inaccessible area?

[OB Bambi]

My son is my technical advisor for cell phone, etc. He told me that this company (Wilson) has great products and good applications. Their website has quite a few mounting suggestions.

Cell Phone Antennas and Cell Phone Boosters at Wilson Electronics

[TropicGuy]

I am actually installing their equipment 0B. They dont seem to know much about running wire inside an Airstream unfortunately. I am convinced that drilling is the right thing to do. I am just hoping someone in the firum can tell me how hard its going ot be to fish wire from the roof to the box where the cd changer is.. I need to get the FM antenna off and inspect the situation. Also need to figure out where to buy Vulcam so that I can seal it all up properly when I am done.