Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
Thanks to coming across a terrible car accident in the middle of the Navajo reservation in AZ (where 911 doesn't work - how many of you know that?), I've decided to upgrade the comms capability in our camping tow vehicle, a 2018 F-150.
I have a couple of radios already, a Yaesu FT-50 HT and a Kenwood TM-261 2m mobile unit. I'd like to mount the Kenwood permanently in the truck's cab.
Mounting the radio will simply consist of finding a decent place to put it (my F-150 has the front bench seat so I don't have a real center console.) But a thornier issue is the antenna.
Normally I would apply the KISS principle and go with the "simple but it works" mag mount on the center of the roof. However, the 2015+ F-150's are aluminum bodied which means a mag mount is not an option (no I'm not interested in riveting or otherwise attaching a steel plate to the roof.)
A permanent (NMO?) roof mount may be an option, but the (mild) complication there is that I like to park the truck in the garage (I actually sold one of my motorcycles earlier this year so I would have room in the garage for the truck, after leaving it outside all last winter) so I'm looking to see if there might be better options than a center-roof mount. Also, we carry kayaks on the roof of the topper and while I could probably work around the kayaks, I'd rather not have to worry about a sliding kayak taking out my antenna.
So I'm considering an antenna that attaches to the front fender under the hood lid. Can anyone recommend a good one that will work well for both 2m and 440/70CM? I would have to figure a way to run the cable through the firewall and into the cab but I assume others have done this, either by using an existing grommet or by drilling a hole and putting in a new one. Obviously I'd prefer to use an existing one if possible. The F-150 has the regular AM/FM aerial on the passenger side (I replaced the long factory whip with a short stubby one) so I'd likely put the ham antenna on the driver's side.
Does anyone have a later F-150 that they've done this on that they could give pointers?
Thanks in advance!
I have a couple of radios already, a Yaesu FT-50 HT and a Kenwood TM-261 2m mobile unit. I'd like to mount the Kenwood permanently in the truck's cab.
Mounting the radio will simply consist of finding a decent place to put it (my F-150 has the front bench seat so I don't have a real center console.) But a thornier issue is the antenna.
Normally I would apply the KISS principle and go with the "simple but it works" mag mount on the center of the roof. However, the 2015+ F-150's are aluminum bodied which means a mag mount is not an option (no I'm not interested in riveting or otherwise attaching a steel plate to the roof.)
A permanent (NMO?) roof mount may be an option, but the (mild) complication there is that I like to park the truck in the garage (I actually sold one of my motorcycles earlier this year so I would have room in the garage for the truck, after leaving it outside all last winter) so I'm looking to see if there might be better options than a center-roof mount. Also, we carry kayaks on the roof of the topper and while I could probably work around the kayaks, I'd rather not have to worry about a sliding kayak taking out my antenna.
So I'm considering an antenna that attaches to the front fender under the hood lid. Can anyone recommend a good one that will work well for both 2m and 440/70CM? I would have to figure a way to run the cable through the firewall and into the cab but I assume others have done this, either by using an existing grommet or by drilling a hole and putting in a new one. Obviously I'd prefer to use an existing one if possible. The F-150 has the regular AM/FM aerial on the passenger side (I replaced the long factory whip with a short stubby one) so I'd likely put the ham antenna on the driver's side.
Does anyone have a later F-150 that they've done this on that they could give pointers?
Thanks in advance!
