Ford Explorer NMO Mounting Help

[elite04gow]

I have a 2004 Ford Explorer and I am wanting to refrain from doing a roof mount or mag mount. I would like to use the L-bracket NMO style mount however I think I have a problem. If I am not mistaken it must be grounded. I would like to mount the L-bracket to the luggage rack, but I do not think this is grounded. Any ideas?

 

[W6KRU]

Even if the luggage rack was grounded it would be a poor groundplane. When an antenna that requires a groundplane is mounted to the fender with the L-bracket it is not a very good antenna. The fender on most vehicles doesn't have the horizontal surface are to make a good groundplane.

A half-wave antenna might be a better choice but it is a bit of a compromise as well.

 

[OceanaRadio]

I have the same vehicle, and an NMO roof (hole) mount was easy. There is a lot of space inside the headliner that makes it easy to snake coax to the passenger-side when the shoulder-belt assembly is popped off. Then a short 1/4 wave antenna has a perfect ground plane, and it doesn't hit the overheads that the longer 1/2 wave or 5/8 wave do.

R/
Jack

 

[steele_lpd]

...an NMO roof (hole) mount was easy. There is a lot of space inside the headliner that makes it easy to snake coax...

+1


I helped a friend with an install on an 04 Explorer and we pulled the rear headliner trim off and there is enough room to get up to the roof without having to drop the entire headliner.

And for everyone who's nervious about drilling holes in their vehicle... I spoke with a friend of mine who sells used cars. If a vehicle comes in with a properly installed NMO mount in the vehicle they will go out and buy a cell phone antenna to put on it and make a few bucks on the deal... so don't be shy about drilling!

Good luck!

 

[rfburns]

There is a lot of space inside the headliner that makes it easy to snake coax to the passenger-side when the shoulder-belt assembly is popped off.

Just don't go behind the cross bar if you plan on bringing the cable down the door pillar. Getting the cable from my two rear NMO mounts around the cross bar was very difficult and time consuming. Of course if you're going to a rear mount radio and coming down the rear corners, you want to put the mounts behind the cross bar. If I remember correctly, on a 2004 the cross bar is about 18-24" behind the door pillar.

 

[djeplett]

I have an NMO mount to an L bracket on my driver side front fender. I also ran a 10AWG ground wire from the mount to the fender to assure ground. It plays very well. Almost as well as the mag mount I used to run on the center of the roof. I went with the L bracket because the roof mount would hit on my car port.

It's not as good as a roof NMO mount but I had clearance issues. Therefore the compromise.

 

[tactcom42]

this guy made a bracket for his rack.

Ford Explorer "No Drill" Antenna Mount

 

[W6KRU]

this guy made a bracket for his rack.

Ford Explorer "No Drill" Antenna Mount

That is a very poor way to mount an antenna that requires a grondplane. Why? Because there is no groundplane.

This reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a new work truck. When he got the truck he was adamant that he could not drill a hole in his new truck. He put a mag mount on the truck and it has been there since. Now we are several years down the road and he has over 150,000 miles on the truck. Boy that small hole in the roof would make a big difference in his resale. NOT. And all of this time he has been using a compromise antenna with the coax strung across his roof and running through the back window.

 

[tactcom42]

That is a very poor way to mount an antenna that requires a grondplane. Why? Because there is no groundplane.

This reminds me of a friend of mine who bought a new work truck. When he got the truck he was adamant that he could not drill a hole in his new truck. He put a mag mount on the truck and it has been there since. Now we are several years down the road and he has over 150,000 miles on the truck. Boy that small hole in the roof would make a big difference in his resale. NOT. And all of this time he has been using a compromise antenna with the coax strung across his roof and running through the back window.

would the roof of the explorer not be a groundplane if the rail is grounded to it.??

thanks

 

[W6KRU]

would the roof of the explorer not be a groundplane if the rail is ground to it.??

thanks

Nope. If you hook an swr meter to a transmitter and that kludge it would tell the story. Will it receive? Yes. Is it going to operate as well as a properly installed antenna? No.

 

[tactcom42]

Nope. If you hook an swr meter to a transmitter and that kludge it would tell the story. Will it receive? Yes. Is it going to operate as well as a properly installed antenna? No.

So as long as we dont hook a transmitter to it and it gets his antenna mounted without any holes it will work.we are talking receive only right.not as picky as transmit?

 

[W6KRU]

So as long as we dont hook a transmitter to it and it gets his antenna mounted without any holes it will work.we are talking receive only right.not as picky as transmit?

Like I said, it will receive just not as well. 1/4 and 5/8 wave antennas require a groundplane. The antenna has 2 parts the vertical and the groundplane. Not providing the groundplane would be like taking down a TV antenna and knocking all of the elements off of one side. Will it still receive? Yes, just not as well.

If I was going to do this I would look real hard for a 1/2 wave antenna that was cut close to the frequency I was interested in. The problem with that is it is not multi-band. But will it receive on the non-optimum bands? Sure.

We are talking about compromises. I am not saying, Don't do it. I am just pointing out the compromise. Everyone should make their own decisions.

 

[tactcom42]

ok but what keeps the roof from acting as a groundplane??

If its grounded to the mount.

I dont know and thats why I ask.

thanks for all the replys.

 

[W6KRU]

ok but what keeps the roof from acting as a groundplane??

If its grounded to the mount.

I dont know and thats why I ask.

thanks for all the replys.

No problem. It's really easy. The key is in the second half of the name. Plane. For it to work optimally, it is flat. If you're actually messing with a xmitter and swr you can see this kind of stuff on the meter. A proper through roof mounted antenna will actually be detuned by putting the rack around it. Playing with this stuff using meters, makes this stuff easy for me to visualize.

 

[tactcom42]

No problem. It's really easy. The key is in the second half of the name. Plane. For it to work optimally, it is flat. If you're actually messing with a xmitter and swr you can see this kind of stuff on the meter. A proper through roof mounted antenna will actually be detuned by putting the rack around it. Playing with this stuff using meters, makes this stuff easy for me to visualize.

ok I was looking at the roof and only the roof not the rack.Now I understand why it isnt a good groundplane.

thanks for the help on understanding this better

 

[OpSec]

I have a 2004 Exploder.

I tried glass mounts, fender L-bracket mounts, mag mount (for a day) and even a patch antenna I had laying around. They sucked for RX or TX. Badly.

Drill the hole for the NMO mount and antenna on the roof. I have subsequently done several Explorer installs, some with several antennas and never had to drop the headliner. Run the feedline down the C pillar.

 

[smason]

If when you take the antenna off at sale time, you did even a half-arsed job of some filler and touch up paint, what are the chances of anyone even noticing up there on the roof?

 

[BuffaloJustice]

For the price of a new mount I would leave the old one up there.

 

[specman]

That Ford Explorer link with the improvised mount is hillarious! I can't beleive the lengths people will go to avoid drilling a hole in the sheet metal, and yet this fellow ruined several weather seals and has now provided an ideal path for water to flow into the vehicle.

If you don't want to leave an antenna in an NMO mount at sale time you can get a nifty cap that screws down on the mount. You can also remove the mount entirely and buy a plug that snaps into the hole. This is likely preferable to trying to "fill" the hole with a patch and bondo since that would be very work intensive to do a good job.

I've always drilled for my antennas, have never had an issue at sale time. Seriously folks, prospective buyers don't really seem to be bothered by them if the vehicle is in good shape otherwise.

 

[SCPD]

Pop the hole last

Lots of good ideas on installation of NMO mounts in this thread. I didn't see my #1 rule of thumb mentioned.

Run a cord or strong string FIRST along the path you are going to run the coax.

Then pop the hole in the roof or trunk lid. Then pull you coax with the string or cord. And remember, if you are making a 3/4" hole ( and that's what you should use), you pull the whole coax thru the hold from the outside, then terminate the antenna connector after you route the coax. You can put a 7/8" hole in, and then feed the mount from the inside, but you lose some ground connection that way.

I say "pop" a hole because I always use a greenlee hole punch, I don't drill the hole out, I just drill a small hole to use the punch.