So anyway after about three weekends of messing around I finally got my FT-7900R installed in my F-150 in a way I'm actually happy with. The whole thing started because I was running off a cigarette lighter adapter like a dummy and kept getting that weird engine noise on transmit, that alternator whine everyone talks about. Drives you nuts when you're trying to hit the local repeater on the way to work.

Ended up running 10 gauge wire directly to the battery with an inline fuse right at the battery, ground goes to a chassis bolt under the back seat. Night and day difference honestly. Also swapped out the little mag mount I was using for a Tram 1185 lip mount on the bed rail and the SWR came way down. Was sitting around 1.8 on 2m with the mag mount for whatever reason and now its basically flat.

One thing i'm still not totally happy with is the control head placement, I've got it kind of wedged in the lower part of the dash area but it blocks one of my vents. Anyone else deal with that, is there a better way to mount these? Saw some guys using RAM mounts but wasnt sure if that was overkill for something this size.

RAM mounts are absolutely worth it, I resisted buying one for like two years because the price seemed ridiculous for what it is and then finally caved and I kick myself for waiting. I've got my 7800R head on a B size arm coming off the dash vent and it doesn't block anything, stays put even on rough roads. The ball and socket makes it so easy to fine tune the angle too.

On the alternator whine thing, glad you sorted it with the direct battery run, that fixes it 90% of the time. Sometimes if its still there after that you gotta look at the antenna feed line routing, if it runs parallel to any power wiring for too long you can pick stuff up that way. But sounds like you're good now.

The Tram lip mounts are solid, been running one for years on my Tacoma. Only downside is taking the truck through a car wash is a little nerve wracking but it's held up fine.

just got my tech ticket last month and im in the middle of doing almost the exact same thing in my jeep so this is really helpful to read. i was also just using the cig lighter plug because i didnt want to run wires but i guess i should just do it right. did you use any kind of split loom or conduit for the wire run to the battery or just ran it bare?