I wish I'd taken more pics, but it was freezing cold today and we just ran through it.
I've been wanting to install a 2m/70cm antenna for a while. I tried fabricating a couple of different brackets to attach one in the bed, but the ground plane was too difficult to figure out, so I finally decided to start putting holes in things.
After taking a stiff drink (so to speak), I finally put the 3/4" hole in the roof just behind the rear row overhead light so that the NMO mount would be easy to access. The mount went in just fine, but finding a route for the coax was difficult. Airbags everywhere!
I finally got out my fish tape and started poking around. I tried for the B pillars, but airbags. C pillars: airbags. Finally, I kinda aimed in the general direction of the driver's A-pillar and somehow the fish tape just kept on going.. I pulled the interior plastic and there the fish tape was, and it was pretty trivial to guide it down into the driver's floor area. Voila - good coax route.
I zip tied the RG-58 to the coax for the Sirius antenna, behind the small airbag in the A-pillar.
Mounting the head unit came as a pleasant surprise. I first tried the gooseneck mounted to the seat bolt, but the seat hit the mounting bracket before it was forward enough for me to sit, so that option was out. I was poking around the console and discovered that the plastic piece that contains the two butt-warmer switches just pulls out, and that there is a CAVERN of space underneath it. So, I screwed the radio mount to that piece of plastic and drilled a 5/8" hole in the pocket to run the GPS and RF deck cables through, as well as the external speaker cable.
The RF deck is under the passenger seat and is temporarily powered to the 12V socket until I can run some #12 to one of the batteries.
Anyway, feast your eyes. The NMO mount looks like it is slightly off-center, and it is slightly, but not as bad as it appears in the photo.
![Image]()
The head unit:
![Image]()
Hard mounting is so much more pleasant than the gooseneck I had in the Armada. The thing STAYS PUT. Antenna performance is fantastic as well.
Thanks for looking!
I've been wanting to install a 2m/70cm antenna for a while. I tried fabricating a couple of different brackets to attach one in the bed, but the ground plane was too difficult to figure out, so I finally decided to start putting holes in things.
After taking a stiff drink (so to speak), I finally put the 3/4" hole in the roof just behind the rear row overhead light so that the NMO mount would be easy to access. The mount went in just fine, but finding a route for the coax was difficult. Airbags everywhere!
I finally got out my fish tape and started poking around. I tried for the B pillars, but airbags. C pillars: airbags. Finally, I kinda aimed in the general direction of the driver's A-pillar and somehow the fish tape just kept on going.. I pulled the interior plastic and there the fish tape was, and it was pretty trivial to guide it down into the driver's floor area. Voila - good coax route.
I zip tied the RG-58 to the coax for the Sirius antenna, behind the small airbag in the A-pillar.
Mounting the head unit came as a pleasant surprise. I first tried the gooseneck mounted to the seat bolt, but the seat hit the mounting bracket before it was forward enough for me to sit, so that option was out. I was poking around the console and discovered that the plastic piece that contains the two butt-warmer switches just pulls out, and that there is a CAVERN of space underneath it. So, I screwed the radio mount to that piece of plastic and drilled a 5/8" hole in the pocket to run the GPS and RF deck cables through, as well as the external speaker cable.
The RF deck is under the passenger seat and is temporarily powered to the 12V socket until I can run some #12 to one of the batteries.
Anyway, feast your eyes. The NMO mount looks like it is slightly off-center, and it is slightly, but not as bad as it appears in the photo.
The head unit:
Hard mounting is so much more pleasant than the gooseneck I had in the Armada. The thing STAYS PUT. Antenna performance is fantastic as well.
Thanks for looking!
