Ham radio antenna rooftop mount in 4th Gen

[dancojgl]

Greetings, all!

I've been contemplating installing a 2m/70cm rig in my 2004 4Runner, and have decided to take the hit and cut the 3/4" hole in the roof for an NMO mount.

Has anyone done this? Is there an easy way to route (fish) the coax from the center of the roof over and down the B- or C-Pillar, without removing the headliner?

Also, I'll need to route two 6-ga. power lines from the battery, through the firewall, to beneath either the driver's or passenger's front seat. (I'll mount the radio there, and use a head separation kit to put the controls somewhere handy). Is there any good (easy) way to get power through the firewall?

All advice welcome!

TIA,

Dan

 

[Good Times]

Dan,

You're a brave man! I've yet to drill a hole in my roof (although I've drilled everywhere else hehe).

I would think hanger would be a good bet to help you run the line from the roof to the side pillar. The same would apply for the firewall as that's what I use all the time.

Btw what ham are you going with? I have the Yaesu FT7800 (still working towards my license though.. ugh) Can't wait to use it 24x7!

Good luck!

Greetings, all!

I've been contemplating installing a 2m/70cm rig in my 2004 4Runner, and have decided to take the hit and cut the 3/4" hole in the roof for an NMO mount.

Has anyone done this? Is there an easy way to route (fish) the coax from the center of the roof over and down the B- or C-Pillar, without removing the headliner?

Also, I'll need to route two 6-ga. power lines from the battery, through the firewall, to beneath either the driver's or passenger's front seat. (I'll mount the radio there, and use a head separation kit to put the controls somewhere handy). Is there any good (easy) way to get power through the firewall?

All advice welcome!

TIA,

Dan

 

[trdtim]

Dan,

I did this on my 99 tacoma and it was VERY easy. Drilled the whole and used a reel that home electronic installers use. It should be very simple.

It is just a round reel and the cable inside is very flexible.....

Good luck.

Greetings, all!

I've been contemplating installing a 2m/70cm rig in my 2004 4Runner, and have decided to take the hit and cut the 3/4" hole in the roof for an NMO mount.

Has anyone done this? Is there an easy way to route (fish) the coax from the center of the roof over and down the B- or C-Pillar, without removing the headliner?

Also, I'll need to route two 6-ga. power lines from the battery, through the firewall, to beneath either the driver's or passenger's front seat. (I'll mount the radio there, and use a head separation kit to put the controls somewhere handy). Is there any good (easy) way to get power through the firewall?

All advice welcome!

TIA,

Dan

 

[GlennD]

I have a Comet dual band NMO mount antenna on my 2004 4runner roof about centered between the drivers and rear seat. I did it 2 years ago but I do not recall any problems running the cable.

I have a Kenwood TM700 mounted under the passengers seat. This is mounted on 3/8 inch plywood spaced up by 1X2's so the heater vent is not blocked.

#6 wire is extreme overkill. I am a Public Safety Radio Tech. The 110W Motorola radios we use only have a #10 wire and they draw over 35A on transmit.

I have a run a dual #10 wire running from the battery through a grommet on the drivers side. On the inside it it runs through the channel at the drivers side door and then branches out on the rear floor and goes to the radio relay. I have a 30A Bosch relay in series with the power wire. It is controled by a wire tapped on the cigarette lighter so that the radio goes on with the acc switch.

 

[eorange]

Cut a hole?! Gaaaack!! Since I got the Runner, it pains me to even put my Larsen NMO magmount on the roof for fear of scratching the roof paint!

A friend of mine has the FT7800 and he loves it, especially the hypermemories. Bang for the buck, you can't beat it. Also, he's using it with a through-the-glass 2m/440 antenna, and he's very happy with the performance.

Erik

 

[GlennD]

Back in the distant past I might have worried about drilling a hole in my vehicle.

I have owned over ten new vehicles with at least one antenna hole. With a proper antenna hole plug installed I received no trade-in deduction.

I have used glass mount antennas in the past. They work for strong signals OK but there is always coupling loss through the glass. Glass mount antennas also are narrower on band width.

I use an expensive device (thank you Long Beach) called a Wiltron Sitemaster that measures return loss. Every glass mount antenna UHF or lower has looked very poor. Some 800Mhz antennas work well.

My dual band Comet rubber antenna is not great but it is much better than a Larson dual band glass mount. The Comet's main advantage is that it survives my garage door.

 

[kvanderploeg]

On both of my 4Runners I've thought about antenna placement. With a roof mounted antenna you'll get the best ground plane, but I can't just drive my trucks into the garage with an antenna on top. I settled for a Tram 2M/70CM antenna off of eBay and it's worked great for over 3 years now. I bought a trunk lip NMO mount (also from eBay) and gave the antenna a little bend to put it more vertical to help the radiation pattern.

If you'd like more closeups, I can take a few more. Good luck!

 

[dancojgl]

Re: Re: Ham radio antenna rooftop mount in 4th Gen

Thanks for all the tips, guys!

Btw what ham are you going with? I have the Yaesu FT7800 (still working towards my license though.. ugh) Can't wait to use it 24x7!

Good luck!

Yes, I'm looking at the FT-7800R. The plan is to mount the radio under the passenger seat, and use the separation kit to mount the head below the A/C controls. The storage compartment door below the A/C controls pulls out, and I'll mount a (slightly recessed) black plastic panel with the radio head on it in its place.

Just passed the Element 2 exam this morning, so I should be legal in about a week or so...time to spend some money and order the radio!

I did this on my 99 tacoma and it was VERY easy. Drilled the whole and used a reel that home electronic installers use. It should be very simple.

I have the Radiall/Larsen hole saw on order and will be using that, so I don't drill all the way through the headliner!

The only part that has me concerned is the headliner/door pillar interface, and prying the headliner free of the adjacent door trim to get a little access for the fish tape..

I have a Comet dual band NMO mount antenna on my 2004 4runner roof about centered between the drivers and rear seat. I did it 2 years ago but I do not recall any problems running the cable.

Ah, actual 2004 info! Some questions, if I might:

Above, or in front of/behind the dome light?

Did you run into any roof ribs in the way?

Did you take the cable down the B-pillar? Front side of pillar or rear side?

If I'd just work up the nerve to start pulling some trim down, I'd probably answer my own questions and find it's no big deal...But, I'm kind of scared...

I have a Kenwood TM700 mounted under the passengers seat. This is mounted on 3/8 inch plywood spaced up by 1X2's so the heater vent is not blocked.

That's a great idea! I though of the plywood base, but I like the legs! Maybe put velcro on the bottom of the legs to get them to cling to the carpet and stay put...

#6 wire is extreme overkill. I am a Public Safety Radio Tech. The 110W Motorola radios we use only have a #10 wire and they draw over 35A on transmit.

The specs for the FT-7800R say 8.5A, so #10 ought to be plenty.

I have a run a dual #10 wire running from the battery through a grommet on the drivers side.

I was looking at the grommet on the passenger side. Looks like more room to work with. I'll have to pull my glovebox and see what's behind there...

I have a 30A Bosch relay in series with the power wire. It is controled by a wire tapped on the cigarette lighter so that the radio goes on with the acc switch.

That is an *excellent* idea!

The one thing I was not looking forward to was having to manually turn the radio on and off, with no ACC switch control. Problem solved!

Cut a hole?! Gaaaack!! Since I got the Runner, it pains me to even put my Larsen NMO magmount on the roof for fear of scratching the roof paint!

A friend of mine has the FT7800 and he loves it, especially the hypermemories. Bang for the buck, you can't beat it.

I'm over the newness phase...although I love this truck, and am a 4Runner guy for life, it's just a truck; it's going to get scratched, dinged, and beat up, so what's one more hole? (I'm much more worried about screwiung up the headliner inside, than the body itself!)

Thanks for the confirmation on my radio choice! The reviews on eham.net give it a pretty good review, but it's nice to get some real-world feed-back.

I have owned over ten new vehicles with at least one antenna hole. With a proper antenna hole plug installed I received no trade-in deduction.

At $12 for the NMO mount, I'll just leave it on the truck...If anyone asks, I'll tell them it's for a cell phone antenna...


Once again, thanks everyone for replying!

Now, I just have to actually DO it!

~Dan

 

[GlennD]

You have to cross the truck with the wiring either way since the battery is on the drivers side and all of the heater stuff is in the way on the passenger side. I used dual jacketed wire going directly to the battery. I have a 40A 5ag fuse at the battery. The size is excessive but that is what the city stocks. The real purpose of a fuse at the battery is to prevent a fire in the remote event that the wire shorts to ground going through the firewall.

When you mount the antenna use a antenna hole saw with stops or use extreme care. Do not use a twist drill since the ragged edges it leaves will leak water. Make sure that if you have a sunroof that you leave room for it to slide.

To run the antenna cable, normally you can fish it to the edge. DO NOT REMOVE THE HEADLINER! Remove the plastic trim at the headliner and at the floor. If you pull the door weatherstripping off you can run the wire in the crackon the door pilar.

 

[mikemoore]

I am planning an antenna installation on the rear portion of the roof of my 2004 4 runner. I am installing 2 nmo mount antennas - one for comm, one for aprs. I want to lower the headliner then use a 3/4 inch chassis punch for the antenna holes. Any advice on how to lower the headliner? I have found some screws to remove but wonder about the star wheels. Do these need to come off? I will try to upload images.

 

[GlennD]

No one commercially lowers the headliner to use a chassis punch. We use specialised hole saws with stops that prevent the saw from going through the headliner.

They are really not that expensive. I think the Antennex one is around $25. I think Tessco has an online catalog where you can see whats there.

 

[808Sport]

Cut a hole?! Gaaaack!! Since I got the Runner, it pains me to even put my Larsen NMO magmount on the roof for fear of scratching the roof paint!

A friend of mine has the FT7800 and he loves it, especially the hypermemories. Bang for the buck, you can't beat it. Also, he's using it with a through-the-glass 2m/440 antenna, and he's very happy with the performance.

Erik

eorange

Could you find out which on-glass antenna he is using, where he has it positioned, and any other info would be appreciated. I want to install one too.

Aloha,
Scott
WH6RG

 

[lexmedic157]

to resurrect an ANCIENT thread, does anyone remember how far the had to go back to clear the sunroof assembly? from my recollection there was no rear brace and I'd only have to reasonably measure back an inch or two bigger than the size of the sunroof. correct? (BTW, I have an 07 SR5)

 

[mikemoore]

I avoided the sunroof area entirely. I put my antennas at the rear of the roof about a foot or so in. I used NMO mounts one for 2M APRS and one for 2M/70cm dual band transceiver. I used a hole saw designed for radio installations for drilling the hole. With the tailgate up I reached in between the headliner and roof while securing the mount and routing the feedline.

73,
Mike
KC2NM

 

[lexmedic157]

I really want to get the dual band antenna as close to the middle of the roof and give me the ability to mount a future antenna behind it if I go that route. Was mainly curious how far the guts of the sunroof go back?

 

[sc1911cwp]

Just my two cents, but when I wanted to mount a NMO type antenna in my old Explorer I took it to a professional communications installer. It cost me about $35.00. It took 20 minutes, was professional, I didn't need any tools. I'd be REAL careful of anything like a sunroof!

 

[lexmedic157]

I got it done yesterday, quick job, easy enough.

 

[blm]

I got it done yesterday, quick job, easy enough.

Hey, lexmedic157 or sc1911cwp: Just curious where you went? Not sure if just any Motorola shop will take off-the-street customers. Did they do it close to the sunroof and know their way around up there? I'm another hesitant ham who wants to do a rooftop install, but concerned about sunroof clearance.

 

[lexmedic157]

An easy way to gauge it is look at the headliner. Where the headliner slopes back up from the back of where the sunroof ends is generally a good place to start. I went a couple inches back from there. When I pried down the headliner to grab the cable I could see I could have mounted it a little further forward. I think the sunroof is about 21 inches long, and I think I drilled about 25 inches behind that. Wasn't too difficult. Ran the cable down the B-post and under the carpet. Have the radio velcro'ed under the seat with the head in front of the shifter. Works pretty well and the reception is WAY better than my trunk lip mount I had on my previous vehicle.

 

[blm]

@lexmedic157 Yeah, I have a similar setup right now (as the radio goes). Yaesu FT-8800 temporarily mounted under the seat. I removed the sungless holder from the overhead console and mounted the remote head in there at a good downward viewing angle, then remoted the mic port to below the center console. Had to replace the front quarter-panel where my fender mount NMO was (a guy ran a red light into me), so I'm considering other options. What type antenna did you go with in the center of the roof? I'm concerned about using anything other than a light 1/4 wavelenghth whip.

Thanks for the info!