so anyway i finally got my FT-7900 installed in my truck after like three weekends of messing around with it. the whole thing started because i kept getting RF into the audio whenever i keyed up and it turned out my ground was garbage. like embarrassingly bad. i had run the power leads to the fuse block under the dash which i thought was fine but apparently that was the whole problem.

ended up running 10 gauge wire straight to the battery with an inline fuse and the difference was night and day. no more buzzing, no more weird audio artifacts. also remounted the NMO antenna on the roof instead of the lip mount i had on the trunk lid, that helped with the pattern a lot too i think.

anyway my actual question is about the antenna cable routing. i drilled a hole through the firewall but im not totally happy with how ive got the coax routed along the door pillar — it rubs a little when the door opens and closes. did anyone find a good way to hide the run on like a late model pickup? i used self amalgamating tape at the firewall grommet but the rest of the run inside feels kinda rough

the door pillar thing is super common and kinda annoying to deal with honestly. what i did on my f150 was use those little plastic wire clips that snap into the existing holes in the pillar — most trucks have them already, ford especially. you peel back the plastic trim panel and there are these small holes where you can route wire and clip it in place and then just snap the trim back. the coax isnt really visible at all once you put the panel back. only thing is you want to make sure youre not pinching the coax too tight against anything metal because over time that can cause issues with the shield.

also the straight to battery mod was the right move. i see people fighting RF problems for months and it almost always comes back to power leads and grounding. glad you sorted it out

nice work getting it sorted. i went through something similar when i installed my 7100 and honestly the ground was the last thing i checked when it shouldve been the first lol. for the coax routing i just used spiral wrap loom for the section thats exposed inside and zip tied it loosely so theres a little slack near the door. not the prettiest but it hasnt rubbed through in two years so i'll take it