so i've been running my FT-857D in the truck for about three weeks now and overall im pretty happy with how it came out. got it mounted on a RAM mount setup between the seats, ran the power cables directly to the battery with an inline fuse, the whole deal. antenna is a Tram 1185 on a mag mount for now until i figure out where i want to drill.

the problem is the audio. when im driving on the highway, especially over about 55mph, i basically cant hear anything on 2m or 70cm. like the road noise and wind noise just completely overwhelms the speaker. the radio's built in speaker is pointed kind of downward-ish and i think thats part of it. i tried cranking the volume but then when i stop at a light and someone keys up its way too loud.

does anyone run an external speaker with this thing? i was looking at the Kenwood SP-50 or just a generic external speaker but i dont know if it matters much what you get. or is this just a mobile life thing and i gotta deal with it

Oh man yes external speaker is absolutely the way to go, dont even hesitate. I ran my 857 for probably six months with just the internal speaker and it was miserable on the freeway. Picked up a Heil HM-10 remote speaker, mounted it up on the dash close to ear level, and it was like night and day. You dont need anything fancy honestly, even a cheap $20 external speaker will be a massive improvement just because of the placement.

The other thing worth trying if you havent already is playing with the RF squelch and also the audio settings in the menu. There's a high cut filter in there that can help cut some of the hiss that competes with road noise. And if you're on a repeater that runs kinda quiet, sometimes just asking the repeater trustee if the output power or PL tone situation is normal helps rule that out.

Also a tip -- mount the external speaker angled toward you rather than flat on the dash. sounds obvious but i had mine flat for weeks wondering why it still sounded bad lol

same boat here, just got my technician a few months ago and put a UV-5R in the car first then upgraded to a proper mobile. the external speaker thing is real, my elmer told me about it right away. i think i paid like $30 for some random one off amazon and it works fine mounted on the a-pillar.

one thing i noticed too is the mag mount placement makes a difference for noise, like if its too close to the cab you get more wind buffeting around it. i moved mine back a few inches and it got a little better but yeah external speaker fixed most of my issues