so i've been putting this off for like 6 months but i finally got my FT-7900R mounted in the cab of my F-150. ran the power cable directly to the battery with an inline fuse, antenna is a NMO mag mount for now sitting on the roof. overall pretty happy with how it came out but im getting a little bit of ignition noise on receive, like a whine that changes with RPM. i've seen people mention ferrite chokes and bonding straps but im not sure where to start with that. do i put the choke on the antenna feedline, the power leads, or both? also the mag mount is probably not a permanent solution so i'm looking at maybe drilling for a proper NMO mount eventually but my wife would kill me if i scratch the truck doing it, lol anyway. mostly just curious what other folks have done for noise on newer vehicles, seems like modern trucks are a nightmare for this stuff.

the RPM-following whine is almost always alternator noise getting in through the power leads. first thing i'd try is putting a ferrite choke right at the radio end of the power cable, like within a few inches of where it connects to the rig. also check that your antenna coax braid has a solid ground path — on mag mounts sometimes the contact isn't great and a poor ground on the antenna can make noise way worse than it needs to be. bonding straps are great but honestly start with the ferrite and see how much that cleans things up before you go crazy bonding everything. and yeah modern vehicles with all the switching power supplies and LED stuff everywhere are a real headache compared to older rigs. my 2019 silverado was way worse than my old bronco ever was.

i had almost the exact same setup in my tacoma and the noise drove me nuts for weeks. what finally fixed mine was actually adding a small capacitor across the power terminals at the radio, someone on another forum suggested it and i was skeptical but it helped a lot. also make sure you're running a separate ground wire all the way back to the battery instead of grounding to the chassis near the radio, that made a difference for me too. as for the NMO mount, i was scared to drill too but it really wasnt that bad, just take your time and use a good step bit. the mag mount works okay but you lose a bit on performance and it can slide around on highway if you get a good gust.