so ive been trying to figure out the best spot to mount my 2m/70cm antenna on my 2019 honda civic and honestly im going a little crazy over it. i dont want to drill through the roof if i can help it — the car is still relatively new and my wife would kill me — but every other option i look at has some kind of compromise.

right now im using a magnetic mount stuck on the trunk lid and the coax is just running through the door jamb which i know is not ideal. getting some multipath issues in certain parts of town and im wondering if its partly the antenna location. the radio itself is a Yaesu FT-7900R that ive had for a couple years now, been running it at 50 watts on 2m mostly for local repeater work and the occasional simplex chat with guys from my club when were driving to the same place.

has anyone done a lip mount on a civic? or found a good trunk lid spot that doesnt look terrible? i really want a proper ground plane situation but without committing to a hole in the roof

the lip mount route is probably your best bet if you dont want to drill. ive got one on my corolla using a trunk lip mount from Comet and it works pretty well. the ground plane isnt perfect compared to a true roof mount but for everyday repeater work and local simplex you really wont notice much difference. the main thing is making sure the mount itself has solid contact with the body and that your coax routing doesnt have any sharp bends near the connector.

what antenna are you running on that mag mount? if its one of those cheap little stubby ones that came packaged with something that might actually be more of your problem than the location. switching to a decent 5/8 wave like a Diamond NR770H or similar made a noticeable difference for me even before i sorted out my mount situation.

yeah i had the same exact debate when i got my first mobile rig. ended up just drilling the roof and honestly it wasnt as scary as i thought, but i totally get not wanting to do that on a newer car. one thing i will say is that running coax through the door jamb is probably contributing more to your issues than the antenna spot — the constant flexing can damage the shield over time and ive seen that cause all kinds of weird rf problems. worth at least rerouting it through a grommet somewhere if you can find one.