okay so ive been putting off doing a proper mobile install for like two years now and im finally just doing it. got a used Yaesu FTM-400 from a guy at the club and its in pretty good shape, just needs a new mic clip but whatever.

my question is about antenna placement. im driving a 2018 Honda CRV which is one of those crossover things with the weird roof line, not a flat roof like a truck or sedan. i was thinking of doing a lip mount on the rear hatch but ive heard that can cause issues with the liftgate if youre not careful about how you route the coax. the other option is drilling which i really dont want to do on a car i dont own outright yet.

is the lip mount going to hurt my signal much compared to center of roof? i mostly just want to hit the local repeaters and maybe do some simplex when im out hiking with friends who have HTs. not trying to work the world here, just solid local coverage.

also if anyone has done a CRV install specifically i would love to hear how you ran your coax inside, the D pillar on these things looks like a nightmare

Lip mounts work fine for what youre describing, honestly. The pattern will be a little off compared to dead center roof but for hitting repeaters around town you wont notice. I ran one on my old Subaru Outback for three years and never had a complaint from the other end. Just make sure you get a good quality one, the cheap ones on amazon have thin metal and the connection gets floppy after a while which is a pain.

For the coax routing on a CRV I cant say for sure but most modern crossovers have rubber weatherstripping along the D pillar that you can carefully peel back and tuck RG-8X or LMR-240 behind without too much drama. Take your time and use a plastic trim tool, not a screwdriver, or youll regret it. I usually leave a little extra slack near the hatch hinge area so the coax has room to flex when you open the liftgate otherwise it just slowly works itself loose over time.

oh man i almost bought an FTM-400 last month but ended up going with the 300DR instead just because of the price difference. curious how you like it once you get it set up. the dual receive on those is pretty nice for scanning the local repeater while also monitoring 146.52

anyway no real advice on the CRV specifically but second what the other guy said about lip mounts being totally fine for local stuff