so ive been trying to figure out the best spot to mount an antenna on my F-150 for my new TM-V71A and honestly im going in circles on this. i did a lip mount on the trunk of my old car which worked fine but the truck is a different animal. been reading about NMO mounts through the roof which sounds like the ideal option for pattern and everything but im really hesitant to drill a hole in a truck i still owe payments on lol.

a buddy suggested the cab corner on the bed but ive heard mixed things about grounding when youre that far back on the body. someone else said just do a mag mount for now which yeah i know its not permanent but id rather do it right the first time if im going to bother at all. running a Diamond NR770HB which is a decent sized antenna so whatever i do needs to handle that without flopping around on the highway.

whats everyone doing for truck installs these days? curious what actually works in the real world vs what sounds good on paper

went through almost exactly this with my Tacoma a couple years back. ended up doing an NMO through the roof center of the cab and yeah i did lose sleep over drilling it but honestly best decision i made. seal it right with the proper weatherproofing gasket that comes with the mount, ive never had a leak and its been through two winters. the pattern is just so much better centered on the roof, youre not fighting compromised ground plane the way you would stuck way back on a bed corner.

if you really cant bring yourself to drill, the next best thing ive seen actually work well is a good quality lip mount on the cab, not the bed, and make sure you run an actual ground strap to the body rather than relying on the clamp contact. mag mounts are fine for playing around but the NR770HB is going to be bouncing all over the place at highway speeds unless its really solidly mounted, ive seen those pop off before.

i just did a mag mount on mine and it works fine honestly, i know everyone says to do the NMO thing but i move my radio between vehicles sometimes so the flexibility is worth the small performance hit to me. havent had it fly off yet and ive done some long highway trips. maybe someday ill do a proper mount but for now its fine