Body Mounted NMO

[doctordave]

Folks,

I'm still wrangling with the idea of drilling a hole in my brand-new SUV roof for a permanent mount of my nmo maxrad scanner antenna. Am currently using a trunk-lip mount at left, rear of my truck....clearly some directionality w/ this setup.....BUT, would drill-mounting my NMO in the center of the roof truly offer a noticeable difference in omni reception ....or perhaps just a slight improvement? I'm hestitant to cut holes, etc - unless the change will be rather significant. I monitor 39, 155 and 856 MHZ.

Question 2 - if I end up putting in the permanent mount....how hard is it to do it right & not have leaks at some point? Have been viewing the rfwiz.com site for their mounts/low-loss coax.....unsure how difficult the process could/would be.


Appreciate any input.


Dave

 

[K2KOH]

I don't know if you want to spend the money, but since it's a brand new vehicle, I would have the dealer install the mount and route the coax. They know how to outfit police vehicles; I'm sure they can do the same for you.

I never was much for drilling in my car...I have 2002 Taurus with still low mileage, and I don't want to drill in it. I don't even have any ham antennas on it...just a lone tiny mag mount scanner antenna.

See what the dealership says

 

[mlevin]

You could always use a NMO mag-mount. That's what I use with great results. You gotta be careful about scratching up the paint. But it is the roof, so it's not that noticable.

 

[nmfire10]

Buy a real NMO drill. www.antennex.com has them. Works like a charm.

Clean the burs and shavings. Put silicone on everything. Make it nice and snug. You won't have any water problems. This is the same mount that is used on millions of emergency and utility vehicles on every corner of the continental USA. If you do it right, you will be fine.

I can't tell you if it will work better or not. I can assure you that it won't get worse. I would put money on an improvement.

If you're on RF Wiz, get the mount that comes with the Micro-Loss 900 coax and an appropriate connector. Good stuff.

 

[Voyager]

I don't know if you want to spend the money, but since it's a brand new vehicle, I would have the dealer install the mount and route the coax. They know how to outfit police vehicles; I'm sure they can do the same for you.

Your area might be different, but aroun my area the dealers do not install radios - the radio shops do. You should be able to find one who will drill the hole for you (and maybe install the antenna) for little cost. Beware of the chops that want to charge you an arm and a leg for doing this.

Joe M.

 

[Dubbin]

Buy a real NMO drill. www.antennex.com has them. Works like a charm.

I dont see any kind of drills on there website. This "real NMO drill" wouldnt just be a hole saw would it?

 

[doctordave]

Appreciate the responses thus far....anyone have an idea as to whether the change from rear, left trunk lip mount on my Expedition to a permanent mount on the roof will make a substantial difference in reception across VHF-Low, Hi and 800?

Thanks again for the input thus far.


Dave

 

[nmfire10]

Sorry. I meant HOLE SAW. It's been a long week, and it's only monday.

 

[Voyager]

Appreciate the responses thus far....anyone have an idea as to whether the change from rear, left trunk lip mount on my Expedition to a permanent mount on the roof will make a substantial difference in reception across VHF-Low, Hi and 800?

Thanks again for the input thus far.


Dave

In general, you should notice a significant difference in the direction of where the roof is now with respect to the antenna.

Where exactly is it now on your Expedition? If it's at or near roof level, the difference will not be as great. In fact, if it's at roof level, you may notice little or no improvement due to the location change. Most of the difference will be due to the improved ground plane of the NMO mount.

Joe M.

 

[Dubbin]

Sorry. I meant HOLE SAW. It's been a long week, and it's only monday.

You do know that you can buy those at any hardware store, dont you?

 

[JohnWayne]

The tool that you want is the Antenex HS34 hole saw. It is NOT the same type of hole saw that you get at the hardware store. It is depth-limited to prevent punching through your headliner, which is something you will do without the proper tooling. You can buy one at http://shop.waltel.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?itemid=ATXHS34 . You can also get your NMO mounts and other accessories there.

You will be much happier with a good old NMO roof-mount.

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[K5MAR]

I'll second that, the proper tool for drilling the holes is a must! If you think it's expensive, you should price a replacement headliner plus the cost of having it installed. It's not a job for the faint of heart! But it's alot easier to take it to a professional shop and let them do the work. Consider having a couple of mounts done, so that you have a ready second mount for when you need it, it will save you money in the long run. There are plastic caps available to cover the NMO mount until you are ready. Or an inexpensive quarter-wave antenna will work just as well.

A properly-installed permanant mount antenna should give you a noticiable improvement. I have a friend who didn't believe me, until one day when a group of us were convoying back from a hamfest, talking to each other on simplex. In spite of the fact that Tim was in the middle of the group and I was at the back, I was talking to the vehicle in the front with no problems, whereas Tim could barely hear the other guy. So I gave him an old gray Larsen dualband and mount, and after mounting it in his roof, he couldn't believe the difference it made.

On a personal note, as long as you are buying the vehicle, not leasing it, why not drill a few holes? It's your truck, enjoy it! The difference in resale/trade-in value is only a couple of hundred bucks. And this was from a friend of mine who had nine antennas mounted in the roof of his Xterra. The dealer who took it in trade put in in their bodyshop and had it fixed in less than a day.

Mark S.

 

[nmfire10]

Sorry. I meant HOLE SAW. It's been a long week, and it's only monday.

You do know that you can buy those at any hardware store, dont you?

Find me a hardware store with an Antennex hole saw and I will be impressed. Like JohnWayne said, it designed for antenna holes.

 

[W4KRR]

I took my brand new Ford F-150 pickup to a two way radio dealer that does installations. I had two NMO mounts installed. Took about an hour. If you ever want to remove the antennas, they make 3/4 inch hole plugs just for this. Nobody will notice them.

 

[SCPD]

Do a little research of your vehicle. Remove the dome lights and take a peek. I have a 1999 Dodge Dakota CLub Cab 4x4 and I removed the interior dome light and I was able to drill the hole. I was able to drill the hole from the inside out. I drilled a second hole by removing the third brake light. Never had to remove the headliner once.

Greenlee makes a hole punch device if you're concerned about putting a hole in the headliner. You can buy these at Home Depot or Lowes and they're probably not as expensive as a hole saw. After drilling the hole(s) I used a Dremel tool to de-bur the hole and then primed the bare edges to prevent rust. Make the hole as smooth as possible so the mount can seat really well to avoid leaks. Get yourself a piece of metal, the same thickness of your roof, and practice first.

I've put a total of seven holes in three different vehicles in this manner. When I sold the previous two I just removed the mounts and put in the plastic caps and no one knew the difference. After removing the mounts there was no sign of rust. If you decide to sell the vehicle, and don't want to remove the mounts, put on an inexpensive cell antenna.

Half the fun of this hobby is doing the work yourself. I like to take pride in the work I did when other Hams/scanner enthusiasts ask where I had the work done.

 

[K5MAR]

Greenlee makes a hole punch device if you're concerned about putting a hole in the headliner. You can buy these at Home Depot or Lowes and they're probably not as expensive as a hole saw.
/snip/
Half the fun of this hobby is doing the work yourself. I like to take pride in the work I did when other Hams/scanner enthusiasts ask where I had the work done.

I don't know, frootydawg. The last Greenlee I bought was almost $50, the Antennex NMO tool is only $22 at Jeff's website. And the NMO tool will allow you to put a mount somplace other than above the domelight, so I would consider it more versatile.

I agree with you about doing the work yourself, I prefer to do so when I can. But having done my share of vehicle interior work when I worked at a Chev/Lincoln/Mercury dealership back in the early 70's, I know that it's not for the faint of heart. Not everybody has the aptitude and skills to do this sort of thing, so if they aren't 100% positive they know what they are doing, they should leave it to the pros.

Mark S.

 

[Dubbin]

Find me a hardware store with an Antennex hole saw and I will be impressed. Like JohnWayne said, it designed for antenna holes.

Hmm I dont think I ever said you could get a Antennex hole saw from a hardware store. You're the one that said it is a "HOLE SAW" so I was just going by what you said. A regular hole saw will work just fine if you know what you are doing :roll: The price of the Antennex is pretty good though.

 

[Cobra_Commander]

Find me a hardware store with an Antennex hole saw and I will be impressed. Like JohnWayne said, it designed for antenna holes.

Hmm I dont think I ever said you could get a Antennex hole saw from a hardware store. You're the one that said it is a "HOLE SAW" so I was just going by what you said. A regular hole saw will work just fine if you know what you are doing :roll: The price of the Antennex is pretty good though.

Here is the Police Scanner Forums. http://donsnake.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi?#thepolicescanningforums it is a fun and entertaing place to go 8)

 

[Voyager]

Find me a hardware store with an Antennex hole saw and I will be impressed. Like JohnWayne said, it designed for antenna holes.

Hmm I dont think I ever said you could get a Antennex hole saw from a hardware store. You're the one that said it is a "HOLE SAW" so I was just going by what you said. A regular hole saw will work just fine if you know what you are doing :roll: The price of the Antennex is pretty good though.

Here is the Police Scanner Forums. http://donsnake.suddenlaunch3.com/index.cgi?#thepolicescanningforums it is a fun and entertaing place to go 8)

From reports I've seen in other threads, it has one post and one member. (wouldn't be you be any chance, would it?) :wink:

Why go there with RR? And why spam it here in the first place? Anyplace that advertizes a replacement to RR on RR I consider spam.

Joe M.

 

[Dubbin]

From reports I've seen in other threads, it has one post and one member. (wouldn't be you be any chance, would it?) :wink:

Why go there with RR? And why spam it here in the first place? Anyplace that advertizes a replacement to RR on RR I consider spam.

Joe M.

Geeze give the guy a break. The more scanning websites that there are, the better this hobby will be. The only way to get people to know about it is to let them know.