so ive been running a little handheld in the truck for a while now just to hit the local repeaters but im finally pulling the trigger on a proper mobile, looking at the FTM-300 or maybe the ID-4100 if i can find a good deal. anyway the antenna situation is what im going back and forth on right now.

the truck is a 2019 F-150 and i really dont want to drill if i can avoid it but everybody keeps telling me magmounts are garbage and i should just bite the bullet and do a lip mount or NMO through the roof. is that actually true or is it just the purists talking. ive seen some guys running magmounts for years with no issues but then again i dont know what antenna or radio they were using so hard to compare.

also if anyone has done the FTM-300 install specifically in a newer ford i'd love to hear how you ran the cable. the firewall passthrough on these trucks is a nightmare from what i've read.

magmounts get a bad rap but honestly a lot of it depends on the mount and the antenna. a cheap no-name magmount with a thin coax is gonna perform like garbage yeah, but something like a Diamond or Larsen on a decent mag base with RG-58 is actually fine for hitting local repeaters. youre not gonna win any DX contests with it but for everyday VHF/UHF mobile use it does the job.

that said if this is gonna be a permanent install and you care even a little about signal quality, just drill the hole. i know it feels like a big commitment but once its done you forget about it and the NMO connection is just so much cleaner electrically. ive had both and theres no contest when the antenna is properly mounted to the vehicle body with a good ground plane. the magmount always had this slight tinny quality to received audio on weak stations that went away completely when i switched.

for the firewall on the F-150 i think there's a rubber grommet on the passenger side that people use, might want to check the truck forums too honestly they know their specific rigs better than we do sometimes

i just did an ID-4100 install in my Tacoma a few months ago and went with a lip mount on the rear hatch, works great and no drilling involved. not sure if the F-150 geometry works the same way but worth looking into. the D-STAR on the 4100 is really nice if your area has any D-STAR repeaters, just throwing that out there since you mentioned it as an option.