I'm still leary of drilling a hole in the TP. [highlight]Were you not able to loosen the antenna and run the wire behind that?[/highlight]
I started to notch the rubber mounting pad, thinking I would run it down and out thru the small space around the antenna "shaft". I did not like having to pinch the wires coming out. So I stopped with the "notching". (After you take the antenna apart you will see what I am talking about.)
I decided that once I "stick" the strip on, the leather will be damaged if I ever have to remove it (knock on wood!) so what's wrong with a small pin hole in the leather?
After a few measurements I realized that a hole just above the rectangular plate held in by the nut and star washer, and comes out right where the end of the strip is attached to the leather. (this was the 14.7" strip that I ordered.) The hole in the tour pack shell is no bigger than the shrink wrap (7/64th bit). In fact I had to heat up the wrap to shrink it just a little before it would slip through. I used an awl to poke a small hole 1/16" above the rubber mounting pad (you can't see the wire from the outside at all).
With the antenna out, I carefully found the exact center of the existing 1/2" hole for the antenna to line up with the end of the strip lite and found that location of the 7/64th" hole I drilled was only 1/16" off center of the antenna core center.
Depending on the length of your strip, all this could change, but my strip is centered perfectly between the two antenna mounts. As much as I tried to make a straight line when tacking the strip down (only one shot at that), I ended up with a bit of a "smile". [smiley=oops.gif]
Good luck with your install.
(I went to Fry's electronics to get the 4' length of 1/8th" shrink wrap so my wires were completely covered.)