Ford Edge Install

I have a 2010 Edge with vista roof (all glass) and want to mount some antennas and a Uniden Bearcat 800 CB. I park in a standard garage with 7 ft high door and rarely in a ramp with 6'-8" clearance. I thought a hood lip or fender mount would be good for the CB antenna to get some height and somewhat of a ground plane. I was looking for a steel whip to be less noticeable and reduce drag but may go with a firefly instead since its a 5/8 wave. The hood at the front wheel is about 3.5 ft high so a 3-4 ft antenna should work.

One other antenna is for my scanner which will probably be a Larson NMO-150/450/800 and should clear the garage door if mounted on the roof. There is 3" wide plastic? trim around the glass on the roof and the valence on the rear is about 12" long and also plastic. I'd like to get it high and unobstructed but don't think there is much of a ground plane up there. The Sirius antenna is mounted dead center on the valence and could use that for GPS or replace it.

For the CB, in order of preference:
1) In the cubby under the heater controls and remove or cut out the power point.
2) Cut out the bottom of the tray in front of the cubby.
3) Either side of the console with the display facing up.
4) Mount to the overhead console in the sunglasses compartment.
5) In the tray on the dashboard.
6) Make a remote head.
7) Under the arm rest in center console storage.
8) Double DIN mount.

My sister has one of these and I remember looking at it and wondering about antenna installs. Looks quite limited in possibilities.

For the CB you could go with the fender mount bracket with an NMO mount. For the antenna, Larsen NMO-27. It's going to be about 48 inches tall, so you should be good there. It's a whip and flexible so even if it did touch the garage, it won't be an issue.

For the scanner you could go on the rear of the roof. While a ground plane is recommended, it isn't as big a deal as with an antenna you'd be transmitting with. Optionally you could create your own ground plane underneath using thin sheet metal, or adhesive backed foil tape like used for HVAC systems.

mmckenna said:

For the CB you could go with the fender mount bracket with an NMO mount. For the antenna, Larsen NMO-27. It's going to be about 48 inches tall, so you should be good there. It's a whip and flexible so even if it did touch the garage, it won't be an issue.

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The antenna is pricey compared to the Firefly ($7 store return or $16 new on ebay) but I would need a mount. I have extra NMO fender mounts and cable to offset the cost of the Larsen and like the flexibility, stealth, and commercial quality too. Would I be losing much range with the 1/4 wave vs. 5/8? FireStik says a top loaded is best, followed by center, then bottom loaded last. How much static would the whip catch compared to fiberglass? I also thought about swapping in a 102" whip for road trips to get extra range which would need an adapter for the NMO mount.

mmckenna said:

For the scanner you could go on the rear of the roof. While a ground plane is recommended, it isn't as big a deal as with an antenna you'd be transmitting with. Optionally you could create your own ground plane underneath using thin sheet metal, or adhesive backed foil tape like used for HVAC systems.

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Anything outside will be better than the rubber duck on the 396XT peeking above the dash. Great suggestion on the sheet metal or foil tape. The rear foot or two of the glass is blacked out with the headliner underneath. I need to pull it down to mount my arrow stick so I'll see what it looks like underneath and at least put some foil up there. I'd them mount the antenna forward on the valence or in the trim at the rear of the glass for as uniform of a ground plane as possible. What is the recommended size for it?

Also need a good meter if anyone has suggestions to double check the one in the 880. I've read good reviews of the Radio Shack 21-534 SWR/Power Meter. I would love an antenna analyzer if there's a good deal anywhere.

FWIW, a good antenna on a cheap radio is astronomically better than a cheap antenna on a good radio. I would go with the Larsen NMO-27, even if it means reducing your radio budget. $7/$16 for an antenna sounds pretty questionable to me.

The Larsen NMO-27 and the Comtelco CB27 are tried and true antennas.

Hint, if you cut the ball off the end of the antenna rod it will not catch on anything in garages or parking structures.

SB-Wi said:

The antenna is pricey compared to the Firefly ($7 store return or $16 new on ebay) but I would need a mount. I have extra NMO fender mounts and cable to offset the cost of the Larsen and like the flexibility, stealth, and commercial quality too. Would I be losing much range with the 1/4 wave vs. 5/8? FireStik says a top loaded is best, followed by center, then bottom loaded last. How much static would the whip catch compared to fiberglass? I also thought about swapping in a 102" whip for road trips to get extra range which would need an adapter for the NMO mount.

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A $16.00 antenna isn't a good investment. Use known good products and properly install them if you want professional results. Yes, the NMO27 isn't a cheap antenna, but it'll outlast all the others. You can order replacement parts for it if something happens.
Not sure if I trust what FireStik is saying there, necessarily. The coil at the base of the NMO27 is for impedance matching because the whip is shorter than 1/4 wave on CB. Matching impedance at the base is probably going to work better than anything else, but I don't have any science to back that up. I've personally never had good luck with the fiberglass antennas, but on the other hand I've never used FireStik brand. I'm sure they are good, but it's still comparing a consumer grade/CB grade antenna to a professional LMR mobile antenna. Once you go with an NMO mount it opens up a lot of possibilities.

You shouldn't need to worry about static. Anything sticking up in the air is going to catch some static electricity, even fiberglass whips. Larsen is big company that has been making professional antennas for a long time. I've installed a lot of Larsen antennas over the years and never had an issue.

Yes, you can get NMO to 3/8x24 adapters, but I'm not sure I'd trust the fender bracket mount with a full 1/4 wave CB whip like that. I'd give the NMO27 a try first. They always worked really well when I was using them.

SB-Wi said:

Anything outside will be better than the rubber duck on the 396XT peeking above the dash.

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A lot of these cars use a metallic film for tinting, and that doesn't play well with trying to use an antenna inside the car. I'd agree, just about anything will work better.

SB-Wi said:

Great suggestion on the sheet metal or foil tape. The rear foot or two of the glass is blacked out with the headliner underneath. I need to pull it down to mount my arrow stick so I'll see what it looks like underneath and at least put some foil up there. I'd them mount the antenna forward on the valence or in the trim at the rear of the glass for as uniform of a ground plane as possible. What is the recommended size for it?

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Ideally you'd want 1/4 wavelength of ground plane in all directions on the lowest operating frequency. That would be around 19 inches in all directions for the lower part of the VHF High band frequencies that this antenna will work at. Unlikely you'll fit all that in under there, but do as much as you can. It's not going to be a deal breaker, and after all, it's a scanner antenna.

SB-Wi said:

Also need a good meter if anyone has suggestions to double check the one in the 880. I've read good reviews of the Radio Shack 21-534 SWR/Power Meter. I would love an antenna analyzer if there's a good deal anywhere.

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No help there. I use Bird 43 meters and an Agilent spectrum analyzer with a tracking generator. About $25K worth of gear. A basic SWR meter will work fine for what you are doing. Just make sure it's specifically designed for 27MHz.

I can't go against 4 recommendations for the Larsen with no mention of a non LMR antenna. When I open the rear valence I'm going to put in another NMO for expansion and throw a 1/4 UHF on there as a place holder. Now I need to decide where to put the CB and arrow stick controller. I'm hoping the lower dash works out because I don't like the thought of the mic cord hanging from the overhead console. Thanks for the input.

Yeah, that's a big issue. They do make CB's that are controlled completely from the microphone. Might be a good solution in your case.

mmckenna said:

Yeah, that's a big issue. They do make CB's that are controlled completely from the microphone. Might be a good solution in your case.

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HHCH FTW. Funny story, my mother has a 2012 Edge with that same roof and I've often though the same thing about installs.

I generally don't recommend these, but what about a Comet lip mount with NMO clamped to the rear hatch? Of course since it's receive only, your likely to never notice the difference between a VHF 1/4 wave antenna and that Tri-bander.

Another random though, look at the Panorma Sharkee. You pull the primary antenna (which may be the AM/FM antenna as well so consider that before you act, Firestik does make a AM/FM-CB diplexer that would be great for this) and replace it with a Sharkee with the triband whip. Expensive setup...but it would be virtually impossible to see.

Another option, Hiershmann does a lot of OEM antennas...could probably find one at a lower cost to a Sharkee with integrated GPS and VHF 1/4 wave whip. Would also look more similar to the OEM antenna.

Firestik sells a decent product...but then again, they advertise their 5/8 wave antennas as having 6 dB of gain.