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Antenna Installation 2020 Ford Fusion

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emscapt9816

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Hello All, I have a 2020 Fusion SE with a moon roof. Has anyone ever done an NMO roof mount with a sun/moon roof? I realize I'll need to pull the headliner to check for clearance and to install the mount and run the cable. My concern is with the ground plane. Do I position the antenna in the middle of the roof, at the edge of the moon roof opening? If not, do I measure a spot equidistant from the edge of the moon roof to the rear glass? I'll be mounting a Diamond NR72BNMO that I had mounted on my previous car.
 

KR3LC

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I'll be following this thread as I have a 2017 Fusion Sport with the moon roof. I went with trunk lip mounts but would consider a roof mount and maybe a hole mount in the trunk deck too.
 

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emscapt9816

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I currently have my Larsen V/U/800 trunk lip mounted in the center. I don't have a wing on the trunk lid. I've considered the trunk lip mount for the Diamond antenna, but that brings up concerns for spacing and directional patterns, as well as cosmetics. I've also considered drilling two holes in the trunk lid, with the same concerns.
 

mmckenna

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I've done installs on vehicle with a sun roof.

Pretty much requires dropping the headliner at least partially to make sure there is clearance when the roof retracts. I've never run into a case where there isn't, especially if you are using one of the standard NMO mounts which only need about 1/4" clearance. Routing the cable is the challenge, making sure it doesn't get in the way of the retraction mechanism.

Center it, while not a perfect ground plane, you want to give it everything you can.
 

emscapt9816

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Center it, while not a perfect ground plane, you want to give it everything you can.
Center the antenna to the entire roof, or center to the distance between the rear edge of the moon roof and the rear glass?
 

mrweather

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Both. Center Left/Right and Center between the rear glass/rear edge of the sun roof.
That's what I did with my 2018 Charger. Added wrinkle was the OE sharkfin XM/GPS antenna located near the back of the roof. Ended up centering the NMO mount between the edge of the sunroof and sharkfin, and left/right. The amount of clear metal around the mount would suggest a compromised groundplane for anything below UHF but VHF and down seems to tune up okay. I'm sure the pattern is skewed, however.
 

iowajm780

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Same here. Have a 2014 Ford Escape with a moon roof. Going to have a radio shop install 2 nmo's as close to the moon roof to give a decent ground plane. Have to call them first to see if they can do it without screwing it up.
 

AK9R

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...center to the distance between the rear edge of the moon roof and the rear glass...
Just keep in mind that the sun roof (sorry, I refuse to use the term "moon roof") glass retracts into that area between the rear edge of the closed sun roof and the rear window. There may be enough space between the roof sheet metal and the retracted sun roof glass to install an NMO mount, but it's gonna be tight and you'll need to deal with routing the cable.
 

mmckenna

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Same here. Have a 2014 Ford Escape with a moon roof. Going to have a radio shop install 2 nmo's as close to the moon roof to give a decent ground plane. Have to call them first to see if they can do it without screwing it up.

Ideally you want them centered on the available ground plane to give them the best radiation pattern. Putting them too close to the sun roof will result in making the pattern directional away from the sun roof.

If it's a reputable radio shop (not a stereo/alarm installer) then they'll know how to do it correctly, and may even have some good suggestions.
 

bharvey2

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The last install I did with a sunroof was with my brother's RAV4. One 2M/70cm antenna mounted center between the sunroof and the rear mounted shark fin antenna. Needed to lower the rear of the headliner. We slipped a flat tray (something like a pizza pan) to catch stray metal chips and to protect the headliner from the drill/saw tip. SWR and performance on both bands were fine.
 

ccsochp11

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Take off the oem radio antenna and that’s the perfect place to mount the Nmo. It’s a square instead of a circle but will still work great. Looks good on my roof.
 

emscapt9816

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Take off the oem radio antenna and that’s the perfect place to mount the Nmo. It’s a square instead of a circle but will still work great. Looks good on my roof.
I wish I could. The shark fin houses the GPS and XM antennas, and I use both. The FM antenna is in the rear glass above the defroster, leaving no room for a glass mount antenna. Another hole in the roof is on the horizon.
 

emscapt9816

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Well, so much for the roof mount. After further reading, I discover my Diamond NR72BNMO can't be roof mounted, hence why I originally had it on a trunk lip mount on one of my earlier cars. So here it is...Antennas Resized.jpg
 
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