So i've been putting this off for like two months but i finally got around to mounting a proper dual band antenna on my truck. Running a Yaesu FT-7900R which i picked up used a while back. The radio itself is working great, got it tucked under the dash on a RAM mount and its actually pretty clean looking if i say so myself.

The antenna though... i went with a NMO mount through the roof which i know is the right call but i was nervous about drilling obviously. Ended up putting it pretty much dead center on the roof. SWR looks fine on 2m, maybe 1.3 or so, haven't checked 70cm properly yet.

Question i keep going back and forth on — how much does antenna placement really matter on a vehicle for VHF/UHF? Like center of roof is supposed to be ideal for the ground plane but i've also seen people do lip mounts, hatch mounts, all kinds of stuff and they seem to get along fine. Is the center of roof thing overrated or is it actually worth the nerve-wracking hole in the roof? Also anyone have experience with the FT-7900 fan running constantly? Mine seems to kick on a lot even at low power, not sure if thats normal.

Center roof is genuinely the best you can do for a ground plane on a vehicle, you made the right call. The radiation pattern stays pretty symmetrical all the way around which matters more than people think when youre mobile and turning through different headings trying to hit a repeater. Lip mounts and hatch mounts work but you'll notice the pattern gets messed up on one side because the roof isn't there to balance it out. Doesn't mean they're useless, plenty of people run them fine, but if you already drilled the hole you're in good shape.

On the fan thing, yeah the 7900 fan does run pretty readily, i dont think thats unusual for that radio. If it was completely silent and the radio was getting hot that'd be more worrying. What power level are you normally running?

Nice, jealous of the clean install honestly. I still have my radio kind of just sitting on the passenger seat which has been "temporary" for about a year now lol. I did a lip mount on my last car and it worked okay for hitting local repeaters but i always felt like i was getting out better in some directions than others, maybe that was just in my head though. Anyway good luck with the 70cm side, curious what SWR you get there.