Actually my point was that this is exactly the sort of market where
there _won't_ be a large-scale source, at least not an open one. It's
a
market dominated by a few vertically integrated manufacturers, who have
no vested interest in commonality of parts and _do_ get advantages from
having design control over the parts they get. If nothing else it make
it much more expensive for the guy down the road to start up his own
operation.

Consider that nuts and bolts were not truly standardized until around
100 years ago. Before (AFAIK) then manufacturers would specify by
size,
but there were no commonly used standards until the SAE got together
and
made it happen. As a result nuts and bolts became commodity items and
the price went down.



Understand what you are saying, but this item I am describing is
pretty much standardized, near as I can tell. Soooo many mobile antenna
manufacturers, including CB, use it on their 1/2" fiberglass rod based
antennas, that I am pretty sure there must be a sizable source,
somewhere.


Ed