so i finally pulled the trigger on a yaesu ft-7900r for my truck and im trying to figure out the best way to do the install. ive been a tech for about 8 months now and mostly just used handhelds so this is my first real mobile setup.

the main thing im not sure about is the antenna situation. i have a tacoma with a bed and i was thinking of putting a lip mount on the cab but i keep reading conflicting stuff about ground planes on trucks with beds vs just going with a mag mount to start. my buddy who got me into the hobby says just do the mag mount first and see if i like it, but another guy at the club said the lip mount is way cleaner and worth doing right the first time.

also for running the power cable, is it really necessary to run it all the way to the battery or can i just tap into something under the dash? i know i know, everyone says run it to the battery but the firewall passthrough on this truck is kind of a pain and i was hoping to avoid it if possible.

anyway just looking for some thoughts from folks who have done this before, the radio is sitting in the box in my garage and i have a free weekend coming up so hoping to just get it done

congrats on the 7900, solid radio for a first mobile. for the antenna on a Tacoma i'd actually vote for the bed rail mount or a tailgate lip mount rather than the cab roof just because you get a decent ground plane off the bed and it looks clean. mag mount is totally fine to start though, dont let anyone tell you its a bad option -- i ran a mag mount for like 2 years before i bothered doing a permanent install and had no real issues.

on the power cable question, i know it sounds like overkill but seriously just run it to the battery. ive seen guys tap into random fuse blocks under the dash and they end up with all kinds of noise on the radio or weird voltage drop issues when they key up. the firewall grommet thing is annoying but once its done its done. most Tacomas have a rubber plug somewhere on the firewall thats not too bad to work through, might be worth poking around for a bit before you give up on it. just make sure you fuse it close to the battery on both leads and youll be good.

i did almost this exact same install on my 4runner last year, ft-891 but same general idea. went with the lip mount on the tailgate and honestly it works great, no complaints. the ground plane off the truck body seems fine for vhf/uhf, never had anyone tell me my signal was bad.

one thing i didnt think about until after i was done -- where are you planning to put the head unit itself? i spent like an hour fiddling with different spots on the dash before i found somewhere i could actually see it without it being in the way. ended up with one of those ram mount things on the dash which i was skeptical about but its rock solid. just something to think about before you start drilling or whatever