K7MFC mobile shack: 2013 F-150 Lariat 4x4

[N9JIG]

I plan on buying a 2015 F-150 Lariat in the coming months ... Since the truck will have a full sun/moon roof, the 3 antennas will likely end up on a back-rack...

In addition to the other comments, you should still have room at the rear of the roof for a couple antennas to be properly mounted with NMO's, even with the sun roof. Even if they were right at the rear edge they should work fine, especially for the scanner. The Motos are pretty forgiving as well, it has been my experience that a corner mounted NMO works better than rack mounted antennas plus it will look a lot better.



If you use a multicoupler for the scanners then you only need 2 antennas, otherwise put 3 NMO's in and use the center one for the Motorola.

 

[BlackSheepDue]

In addition to the other comments, you should still have room at the rear of the roof for a couple antennas to be properly mounted with NMO's, even with the sun roof. Even if they were right at the rear edge they should work fine, especially for the scanner. The Motos are pretty forgiving as well, it has been my experience that a corner mounted NMO works better than rack mounted antennas plus it will look a lot better.



If you use a multicoupler for the scanners then you only need 2 antennas, otherwise put 3 NMO's in and use the center one for the Motorola.

I can’t seem to find a good top down picture of the full glass roof but if I can NMO mount them I will. The scanners will be on separate antennas because one will be on a vhf half wave and the other will be on a vhf/800 dual band antenna.


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[K7MFC]

Another option for F-150 owners with the full sun/moon roof or aluminum body might be a bracket like this:


https://www.larsonelectronics.com/p...luminum-body-trucks-no-drilling-required.aspx


Here's a picture I found on qrz.com showing it installed:

 

[BlackSheepDue]

Using a headache rack for your antenna mounts is an option, but you do need to realize that it makes for a lousy ground plane.

Placing them on the roof is a better solution.



If you absolutely are against drilling holes, then make sure you get half wave antennas or an antenna that doesn't need a ground plane to work.



I've got a headache rack on my F350, however I mounted the VHF antenna in the center of the cab roof.

Mounting on the roof would be a no brainer I agree, however the roof of a 2015 F150 Lariat is 99% glass which leaves less than desirable mounting options. I will be going with all half wave antennas no matter what( 2 vhf and 1 vhf/800).


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[03msc]

Yeah, the full "panorama roofs" of these newer trucks makes it difficult for sure. People forget that sometimes these radio installs are in the upper level trim package trucks with the full glass roofs and if that's the case that greatly limits the antenna mounting real estate! Not a problem on the lower trim packages that don't have that.

 

[mmckenna]

That's a good solution for some, better than some of the installs I've seen.
But it's still going to have the ground plane issue.

 

[RodStrong]

Looks good. Thanks for posting.

 

[BlackSheepDue]

So here’s the space behind the full sun roof on a 2015 F150 Lariat. Should be enough room for NMO’s?

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[pmtchr]

Well done! Thanks for sharing this install with us.

 

[mmckenna]

So here’s the space behind the full sun roof on a 2015 F150 Lariat. Should be enough room for NMO’s?

Should be fine. There's usually an open space between the back "roll down" area of the cab roof and the inside. You shouldn't have a problem installing NMO's there. Just remove the center brake light and take a look.

Issue will be suitable ground plane, which will be lacking for anything below about 800MHz.

 

[K7MFC]

So here’s the space behind the full sun roof on a 2015 F150 Lariat. Should be enough room for NMO’s?

I would also agree with mmckenna, there is likely enough space behind the sun roof to install some NMO mounts. There is almost certainly some space for the wiring harness for the rear brake light, and likely enough space on either side of that. Pop it open and have a quick look, but I would guess that there is room to install the antennas anywhere along the back stretch of roof.

 

[mmckenna]

I know on my 2011 F150 there was, and the 2017 and 2018 F350's I have do too.

 

[BlackSheepDue]

I know on my 2011 F150 there was, and the 2017 and 2018 F350's I have do too.

Thanks for the insight. That’s the route I will go with the scanners on either side if the moto.


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[mmckenna]

Thanks for the insight. That’s the route I will go with the scanners on either side if the moto.

Make sure you have -at-least- 1/4 wavelength of separation between the TX antenna and the scanner antenna, more if you can do it. Expect the scanners will get overloaded when you transmit.

 

[tcm4368]

Very nice and clean install.

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[scottyhetzel]

The TM-281A is definitely a great bang for the buck. HRO always has these on sale, and I think I walked out the door with one for $130 on sale. GMRS is where I'm most active on UHF, so I didn't really need a dual band 2m/70cm. This radio is exactly what I need for a 4x4/camping radio.

Don’t forget to cut that resistor and get 150-173 MHz. Love listening to fire on my kenwood.

 

[AK9R]

Don’t forget to cut that resistor and get 150-173 MHz.

The TM-281 will receive 136-174 MHz out of the box. No need to make any modifications.

 

[scottyhetzel]

Or this

https://www.larsonelectronics.com/p...MInJDZhdKO3AIVDMJkCh20cgBWEAQYASABEgJHjvD_BwE

 

[K7MFC]

New antenna mounts :/

Welp, after much procrastination I finally got around to replacing the NMO antenna mounts I had originally installed. I had a sneaking suspicion I had damaged one of the mounts on the original installation by being a bit too rough when feeding the coax through the truck. I had also been consistently receiving some poor signal reports from my TK-8180. I previously used some cheapo Tram mounts with RG-58 coax, so I went ahead and purchased a couple new Laird NMO antenna mounts, this time going with RG-8X:

I pulled the old ones out and sure enough, one of them had a really loose connection at the base of the mount. I spent a Saturday morning installing the new mounts, and both the TK-8180 and TM-281A are transmitting and receiving much better. Got a few quick signal reports back, and I was able to hit some repeaters that I was previously unable hear. I also discovered that the Gorilla tape I used to secure the coax to the roof did not hold up to a hot Arizona summer. All the glue had melted and most of the tape was hanging from the roof, no longer keeping the coax in place. This time around I used some 3M foil tape to secure the coax which will hopefully serve its purpose much better:

This will ideally be the last time I need to drop the headliner for the duration of the service life of this truck...

 

[KG7LER]

Sounded great on the GMRS repeater earlier