"John Smith" wrote in message
...

Stainless rod in all sorts of diameters... cheap...

http://jschmidtstainless.com/Products/rndbar.htm

Regards,
John
--

Eddie -

The smallest stainless steel rod that J. Schmidt sells is 1/8" (0.125) or
(3.175 mm) in diameter.
For a 5/8 wave antenna, the whip diameter is most likely smaller than this.
Most popular whip sizes used by antenna mfg:
0.100 inch (2.5 mm)
0.072 inch (1.8 mm)
0.046 inch (1.2 mm)

You have not mentioned the specific antenna or mfg (e.g. Larsen, Diamond,
AS, etc) that you have.

You can also visit a land mobile dealer (Motorola, GE/Ericsson. Kenwood)
that performs service work and mobile installations for local or provincial
law enforcement, fire, etc. They routinely have spare whips in their
service bay.

gb