I am planning on putting a two-way radio in my 2002 F-250 SC and would like to know the best way to mount an antenna. I am looking at putting it on the roof, either with a magnetic mount or a permenant mount. How difficult is it to get the wire down the back piller or from piller if I go with a permenant mount. I would really like to go that way because it seems that you can usually get a better reception and transmition with a permentant. Also I don't really like looking at a wire when I look in my rearview. Any help would be great.

 

What kind of two-way radio are you going to install?

I have an el-cheapo CB in my truck. Dual antennas mounted to the front of the bed behind the cab. Reception is just OK, but that's all I need.

 

I'm planning on getting a Kenwood TK-760 radio. We have two of them and they are really nice radios. Plus our fire department was given some new radios so we might be selling a few of them and I've got one spoken for unless somebody else is willing to give more for them. They're only two years old, so they're in good shape. They aren't as nice as I'd like though. They new ones have an alphanumeric display so you can program in a name for the different channels instead of having to remember what channel number is what. I don't know for sure where I'll mount it. With a 6-spd and manuel transfer things are a little tight. I think I could maybe mount it using the bottom holes for the hook thingy if I can find long enough screws. If not I might build a bracket and put it in front of the middle seat. I'd like to get a radio with a seperate face place so I could mount the radio under the seat and the controls anywhere, but I don't think they make one that would work for our frequency range and I'm sure they're pretty spendy if they do. Oh yeah, the price for the TK-760 new is between $550 and $600 I believe, that's what the last one we got was a year ago. Any info on the antenna or even on mounting ideas would be great. Thanks :-)

 

>I'm planning on getting a Kenwood TK-760 radio. We have two
>of them and they are really nice radios. Plus our fire
>department was given some new radios so we might be selling
>a few of them and I've got one spoken for unless somebody
>else is willing to give more for them. They're only two
>years old, so they're in good shape. They aren't as nice as
>I'd like though. They new ones have an alphanumeric display
>so you can program in a name for the different channels
>instead of having to remember what channel number is what.
>I don't know for sure where I'll mount it. With a 6-spd and
>manuel transfer things are a little tight. I think I could
>maybe mount it using the bottom holes for the hook thingy if
>I can find long enough screws. If not I might build a
>bracket and put it in front of the middle seat. I'd like to
>get a radio with a seperate face place so I could mount the
>radio under the seat and the controls anywhere, but I don't
>think they make one that would work for our frequency range
>and I'm sure they're pretty spendy if they do. Oh yeah, the
>price for the TK-760 new is between $550 and $600 I believe,
>that's what the last one we got was a year ago. Any info on
>the antenna or even on mounting ideas would be great.
>Thanks :-)

What frq is the radio on? I put many a radio in when I was with Motorola but that was over 7 years ago. Ford was easy as all get out to get down the front and the back with a good snake. I always used that flat sping steel out of a pull starter for a lawn mower as a snake. For the front we would take the visor off and push the snake down and it would come out under the glove box. I would try that before putting a 3/4" hole in my roof.

When we would go down the back for a 2 piece radio we would snake to the light then down the post could put antenna on a ford in about 15 min trart to finish. Not sure how much they changed in the last 7 years but you can try before drilling.

Another option is glass mount antennas they have them for alot of freqs.

 

Best reception/transmission will always be drilling a hole in the middle of your roof and mounting a well-grounded antenna made to match the radio.

I don't like to punch any holes in the body if I can help itso I mounted one antenna (two way), on the fender under the hood. The CB antenna is mounted on the stake hole with one of these: http://www.alfenterprises.com/SS-294A.htm. You can buy adapters to fit your antenna cable to the mount. I ran the cable down the stake hole and then through the rubber grommets in the back wall of the truck.


I bent a 1/4" X 2 1/5" wide piece of stainless stock and drilled holes to match the radios and fixed this bracket to the flat area of the lower dash above the transmission hump. Hope this helps, good luck.

dontown

 

Thanks for the advice so far. I was figuring on checking for sure before I drilled a hole to see if I could get up the piller. My dad bought a '98 dodge and when he went to put a radio in it he couldn't get up the piller. That's why I was wondering. I'm not for sure what the frequency we run is off my head, but it is either in the 155's or 157's. I guess I'm getting one from the fire department so I just need to take it and have our's added. I thought I might try and get it put in this weekend though if it cools down sometime. Thanks for the advice and keep it coming :P

 

I have a Kenwood TM-741 (tri-band) radio in my truck. I have a Larsen NMO type in the center of the roof and one on the back of the roof. I accessed the mid roof one by removing the dome light. Figure out where the inside of the mount will clear, then drill a small 1/8" or so hole up from that point to mark the spot, then drill the large one down. The one on the rear of the roof is easy- just remove the cargo light/brake light assy and there is a ton of room to work in there. I snaked the co-ax cables down the the inside rear quarter trim (where the rear seat shoulder belts are) My radio has a detachable control panel, so I mounted the radio itself on the floor at the very back of the cab. My S/D is a supercab, so I had to take out the rear seatback; its easy- just lifts out.
mike

 

I mounted my tk 750 in the pocket in the dash.. then drill the hole and mounted the antena on the roof.. I ran the cable down the left front a-piller works great!

bill

 

DON'T drill hole in truck. If it is 155mhz it is 2mtr band and you can use a through the glass ant. Radio Shack has a good one, for 2 meters. I am a Ham operater and I run a Yaesu FT-100, all band HF-vhf-uhf radio. I have 2 ants. for that radio. (it requires 2) One is through the glass for 144 mhz/440 mhz (same one you need for fire dept. freq at about 155 mhz) and the other is a screwdriver ant. for HF (3mhz-50mhz). The radio shack duel band ant. has good gain on 2mtrs (155 mhz) and unless you are way out in the boon docks, you don't need to mess your truck by drilling a hole. It dosen't matter where you mount your ant. because the truck is a great ground plain for any location you choose if you use an ant. that needs to be mounted elsewhere. If you do chose a ground plain type of ant. email me and I can tell you where to get some good mounts to mount on the bed. I run my coax from my screwdriver ant. (mounted on my bed side rail) under my truck and come up in the cab through the rubber plug underneath the floor board. good luck...Rich...(W5XV)

1999 Ford F-250 CC, PSD, 4WD, Lariat, Limited...

 

Thanks for the tips so far. I was looking tonight and figured that the easiest place to mount the antenna would be at the back of the cab over the brake light area. I have a supercab, and I looked at removing the dome light, but there isn't any way to run the cable down that I could tell, unless I removed some insulation stuff (getting technical now) It looked like I could run the cable down the back piller and come out at the bottom. It was getting dark so I didn't get a snake out and try to fish through it. I thought about going the glass mount route, but I like having the antenna up where the singal will be the best. Also, we already have a roof mount antenna not being used and magnetic mounts I could use. Also, we do not use a repeater for our private freq., and sometimes we talk 30 miles or so with them (we are kinda out in the boonies). I haven't really figured out where to mount the radio. I think I've decided to get some strap iron and build a bracket to mount it standing up in front of the middle seat. Maybe I'll get the time some day to just get at it and get the thing put in. Or I could talk to the dealer sometime and find out what they do on these Super Duties when they install them. Anyways, thanks for the advice so far and I look forward to more.