I have the OEM variety of the SMC card, but I rarely use it because it dies after about twenty minutes in Kismet. My NMO antenna is connected directly to a USB adapter via a short section of coax, no connectors, low loss.
As an experiment in overkill, I ran the Xi-325 cabled to a pair of 6dBi panels on the dashboard canted outwards about 20 degrees from dead ahead. Coupled with an omni on the USB adapter and a second card for the A band, the results were insane.