I'm set comms wise now. Between the two handhelds, the quad band HAM and the CB...I should have no issues talking to whomever I might need to.

Why? Because Zombies.

Some radio questions for you, specifically interested in CB (nobody in my group has HAM).
Which mount is that on the fender/hood? Is it the same one in the above post swapped to the other side?
Is that fender mount location better than a ditch light placement? Thinking better ground plane over hood than close to windshield, unless I clear the roofline and am using both hood and roof.

You used to have a (3ft?) Firestik on the hood (seen above), why did you ditch it? What's sitting on the hood now (below)?

what do you think of the Cobra all-in-one CB vs. a handheld CB vs. a mobile CB?

Also, for ham, do you do dual band or just VHF or just UHF? I'd really like to do dual band but I need a rather compact unit that still does 50 watts to put in the space where I want it to go. Do you have any recommendations?

You should still be interested in being a ham... because the people you might want to talk to, or need to talk to, might not be part of your actual group.

Having access to repeaters when off-grid for any reason, emergency, life threatening or otherwise, is about one of the best warm and fuzzy items I actually have in my truck.

Ham radio is some of the most powerful and capable communications equipment available to a civilian... if the OP was so inclined he could talk to the International Space Station if he wanted to.

That said, what ur looking for is a simple "trunk lid mount" or "hatch mount".

By the looks of it. OP has a Yaesu FT-8900 since he mentioned quad band. Great radio.

VHF/UHF radio is highly recommended... FT-8800/8900, Kenwood TM-V71a, Yaesu FT-400DR with ARPS... Lots of good radios out there to consider. Digital is getting popular and really worth considering. IF you go Digital, Yaesu is where you want to be.

You want something with a detachable face so you can store the body of the unit under a seat or something like that.

Bottom line... UHF capability is highly sought after. I have camped in places where I actually didn't have VHF coverage and needed UHF.

Crossband Repeat is generally function of the higher end dual banders... Also recommended. There are places I camped where I needed at least 50 watts to get into a repeater and needed to be on foot. You can setup the truck as a repeater and use a handheld to talk to the truck. What a great feature.

I have a Yaesu FT-2900 and a Kenwood TM-V71a in my 4Runner. My Kenwood has full remote control using DTMF control =) Awesome feature.


VX-7R handheld with Solar


OP... slick setup... Nice to see another ham on the forum. I am actually a little behind, I don't even own a CB radio.

I feel like I've been cyber stalked as you've combined pics of my two different 5th Gen 4Runners.

1) Which mount is that on the fender/hood? It's a K400 - On the 2016 4Runner it is an NMO Mount.
1a) On my 2008 4Runner, I ran a PL-259 Connector w/ a qtr length comet or diamond solid antenna. On the 2016 4Runner above that is a rubberized flexible antenna with an NMO mount. I ran the 2008 4Runner for 4 years in Upstate NY snow and salt with zero issues. This past winter in Colorado, the first on this setup, I experienced numerous times where I believe the exposed underside of the NMO mount caused severe reception issues.
1b) The Comet CR8900 Antenna on the back of the 2012 4Runner was mounted with a K400 and PL-259 Mount. The antenna was a 1/2 length wave antenna and was flawless but prone to waving in the wind.

The CB was junk in my opinion and a bad experiment. CBs are for little boys. Emergency comms require professional communications equipment.

More K400 mount discussion found here:
lets see them CB Antenna Mounts

Nice little write-up I am planning out my uhf/vhf rig in my 03 4Runner right now. Don't forget about Icom radios! Yaesu and Kenwood make some great radios, but for my first rig, I am planning on going with the Icom 2730a. Dual band and everything I need in a first radio.

What mounts and antennas are you using on the back of your 4runner? I was going to do a Comet CP5NMO mount and have two antennas depending on the situation (short stubby for trail riding and everyday, long for larger/longer overland trips), but I am curious if there are better mounting options outside of drilling in to the roof haha

Its been a while, but the mounts are kinda generic... you can find Hatchback Mounts all over Amazon and Ebay.

One is a generic and one is a Diamond mount. All that matters is you use a good quality coax but even the cheap stuff seems to work ok for me too.

Example:
https://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Stain...atchback+Mount

If I could afford to buy Diamond and Comet every time I would, but this isn't my only truck, or my only radio setup either. It starts to add up.

I am doing the same as you... the short stubby is my daily driver antenna, and the big one only goes on for off-road trips or when I want the Kenwood active for crossband use.

The bigger antenna is a diamond super gainer, and the shorter flexible black one is a PL-259 Nagoya NL-R3. I wanted a cheap daily driver antenna in case someone decides to steal it off my truck. I always keep a spare inside the truck too.

I borrowed an antenna analyzer from HRO and everything was in tune and good to go.

1/2 wave works great on those hatch mounts... i guess because they dont need a ground plane so the radiation pattern is better if you cant mount it to the center of the truck. My diamond is a 1/2 wave, and the 1/4 wave flex antenna is just there because its easy, but it works just fine for local repeaters and car to car.

LOL

luckily I don't really wheel with people I dont know, so the CB adoption hasn't really been an issue for me. I still don't have one in the truck, but I do carry a small handful of FRS radios for those times I need to dish out some comms. I still hate those things tho.

I've modded my 8900 to be able to talk to FRS radios as needed.

Thanks for the info. Yea this is going to be my only radio setup, so I am hoping to do it right the first time around haha. Thank you tax return

I'm planning on using this comet antenna as my big trip antenna, and then my buddy is giving me a small rubber ducky one that he doesn't use anymore for the daily use.

You actually brought up a question I had about tuning antennas. I have a CB, and I knew I had to tune that. So I bought one of these things. Will this SWR Meter work with my ham radio, or do I need to get a different one? Thanks!

You need a different one... it's in a completely different frequency range. Needs to be specific to VHF and UHF bands. Tuning UHF gets expensive tho, most people don't do it.

If you are buying antennas from reputable people like Comet then you probably won't have to tune anything, but you should at least check it.

A ham antenna should be centered in the ham bands anyways... unless ur trying to use those same antennas for commercial bands or something else.

Example: Some race baja guys would buy a ham antenna because its cheaper and then cut it down to work on 151.000 type frequencies to work with their commercial / land mobile radios.

Make friends with your local ham radio store if you have one... I used a proper antenna analyzer. That said, I didn't have to tune a thing... all my stuff was good to go out of the box.

They let me take their AA-600 rigexpert antenna analyzer out to the parking lot and run whatever tests I wanted. You can always buy a more affordable MFJ unit and just own it too, but chances are you wont need it.

Gotcha. Thanks again. I am keeping my setup pretty low key and im buying a comet antenna, so I should be fine. I'll likely reach out to a few buddies with ham rigs to see if they have one just so I can check it myself and be safe. Thanks for all of the input and advice! Super hyped to finally have a ham in the rig after having my license for like 6 months lol.

Looks like this is kinda turning into a more generalized Amateur Radio/antenna thread so I will ask here. I am installing a V71 and I have an older - I think Diamond - antennae that does not require a ground. I used it on another vehicle and it was fantastic - up in the air on a roof rack.
So, of the available mounts for luggage rack, which would work the best attached direct to the side rail at the back? Looks to me like none of them are that exact shape. 2017 TRDPro. I am also considering installing a dedicated GMRS radio - in addition to the V71 - as I can't get my wife to take her tech test for amateur radio. And probably will get a midland 40 watt mobile unit.