so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now. got a 2019 F-150 and i want to put up a decent UHF antenna, mostly for linking into the local repeaters and occasional APRS stuff. right now im running a little mag mount Diamond which honestly works fine but it slides around a bit and i hate looking at the coax going through the door seal.

a buddy told me to just drill for an NMO and be done with it but my wife is not thrilled about drilling into the roof of a truck we still owe money on. so i been looking at the lip mounts, the Larsen ones specifically, and people seem to have mixed opinions. some guys say the ground plane isnt as good, others say it doesnt matter for UHF frequencies at the distances im working.

for what its worth im planning to run either a Tram 1185 or maybe step up to a Hustler G7 if the difference is actually worth the price. anyone running a lip mount long term and had issues with it loosening up or corroding? im in the midwest so road salt is a real thing here

the ground plane argument against lip mounts is real but honestly for hitting repeaters 20-30 miles out it probably wont matter much. ive had a Larsen NMO-K lip mount on my Tacoma for maybe 3 years now and the only issue i had was one of the set screws backed out after a winter, retightened it and put some blue loctite on and havent touched it since. corrosion on mine has been minimal but i do spray it down with some dielectric grease every fall before the salt starts flying.

the coax routing is the real headache with lip mounts compared to drilling. you still end up fishing it somewhere, just differently. if you go that route budget some time for the routing, it took me longer than i expected to get it looking clean going through the cab.

as for the antenna choice, the G7 is a nice stick but i honestly couldnt tell a real world difference versus a decent 5/8 wave on a solid mount. the extra gain only matters if youre pointed the right direction anyway on mobile.

drill the hole. seriously. i resisted for years and ran various mount solutions and nothing beats a proper NMO through the roof for a clean install. if you use a good rubber grommet and seal it right there wont be any rust issues and when you sell the truck you slap a plug in the hole and most buyers never even notice or care.

lip mounts work but they always feel a little janky to me, especially at highway speeds if you run a longer antenna. i had one that would vibrate and i could hear it on the audio when i hit certain speeds. might have just been my install tbh but it was annoying enough that i finally just drilled.