Posted: 5/17/2026 5:16:57 PM EDT
|
Got a 2022 Tacoma (new to me) Have a couple choices on HF rigs, but will probably go with the FT-857D. My questions are more antenna mount related. It has a tonneau cover and bed liner what goes over the top of the bed. What options do I have for an antenna mount....if any. Not sure what antenna I may be using. I have a couple here to choose from. Any hints or tricks are appreciated. Thanks |
|
Stake pocket mounts (if you have access to the stake pockets, of course) are usually pretty solid mechanically. You might want to work on the ground/bonding since that's sometimes an issue. I don't have a tool box but I've noticed a lot of people here seem to run a tarheel type antenna attached to the top of one. |
Member
Joined:
Jan 2022
Posts:
2934
EE: 0% (0)
MO, USA
|
You can also get offset mounts that the fastened end goes under a Tonneau cover and comes over outside the bed for the antenna mount. Breedlove mounts Of course you can always drill the hole. I can tell you I am a VERY satisfied owner of a Little Tarheel II antenna. I have had it for years now, and sure worked a lot of stations and many countries with 100 watts |
|
Here you go… https://www.ragofabrication.com/collections/3rd-gen-tacoma-mods/products/toyota-tacoma-cb-antenna-mount Drill out the hole to fit your antenna mount if you need. |
|
Originally Posted By K0UA: You can also get offset mounts that the fastened end goes under a Tonneau cover and comes over outside the bed for the antenna mount. Breedlove mounts Of course you can always drill the hole. I can tell you I am a VERY satisfied owner of a Little Tarheel II antenna. I have had it for years now, and sure worked a lot of stations and many countries with 100 watts Ditto. Of course, that's on top of the toolbox, 1 foot of extra mast under the coil, and the longer whip they sell, so that all helps with Rr. |
|
I have a CR8900 quad band mobile antenna that's going on a stake pocket mount for when I don't have the cap on the truck. When I do, the antenna goes on a mount on top of it. If I'm not towing anything, I'll also put a Tarheel on a hitch mount. Rig is an IC-7000. May incorporate a mobile scanner too. Possibly a CB transceiver and run it on the CR8900 if the HF rig is using a Tarheel. |
Member
Joined:
Jan 2022
Posts:
2936
EE: 0% (0)
MO, USA
|
Originally Posted By Prolix: Ditto. Of course, that's on top of the toolbox, 1 foot of extra mast under the coil, and the longer whip they sell, so that all helps with Rr. Originally Posted By Prolix: Originally Posted By K0UA: You can also get offset mounts that the fastened end goes under a Tonneau cover and comes over outside the bed for the antenna mount. Breedlove mounts Of course you can always drill the hole. I can tell you I am a VERY satisfied owner of a Little Tarheel II antenna. I have had it for years now, and sure worked a lot of stations and many countries with 100 watts Ditto. Of course, that's on top of the toolbox, 1 foot of extra mast under the coil, and the longer whip they sell, so that all helps with Rr. Yes, the first thing I did was replace the stock 32 inch "stiff whip" with a 49 inch Larson KulRod whip from an NMO 150. It makes a difference in radiation efficiency and the whip is much more flexible as it is a tapered whip, actually made to hit things. It still works on 6 meters in the parked position |
|
Originally Posted By AnalogKid: I have a CR8900 quad band mobile antenna that's going on a stake pocket mount for when I don't have the cap on the truck. When I do, the antenna goes on a mount on top of it. If I'm not towing anything, I'll also put a Tarheel on a hitch mount. Rig is an IC-7000. May incorporate a mobile scanner too. Possibly a CB transceiver and run it on the CR8900 if the HF rig is using a Tarheel. Will work, because HF can be magic under the right conditions, but that's demonstrably one of the worst of all the tempting places to mount an HF mobile antenna. "From this author's empirical experience, the noted difference between low mounting (trailer hitch, bumper, etc.), and high mounting(atop a quarter panel, bed rail, etc.) is typically 4 to 5 dB, or about what you would achieve by adding a mobile amplifier." - Cebik, W4RNL (sk) https://www.eham.net/article/22397 |
Member
Joined:
Jan 2022
Posts:
2937
EE: 0% (0)
MO, USA
|
Originally Posted By Prolix: Will work, because HF can be magic under the right conditions, but that's demonstrably one of the worst of all the tempting places to mount an HF mobile antenna. "From this author's empirical experience, the noted difference between low mounting (trailer hitch, bumper, etc.), and high mounting(atop a quarter panel, bed rail, etc.) is typically 4 to 5 dB, or about what you would achieve by adding a mobile amplifier." - Cebik, W4RNL (sk) https://www.eham.net/article/22397 Originally Posted By Prolix: Originally Posted By AnalogKid: I have a CR8900 quad band mobile antenna that's going on a stake pocket mount for when I don't have the cap on the truck. When I do, the antenna goes on a mount on top of it. If I'm not towing anything, I'll also put a Tarheel on a hitch mount. Rig is an IC-7000. May incorporate a mobile scanner too. Possibly a CB transceiver and run it on the CR8900 if the HF rig is using a Tarheel. Will work, because HF can be magic under the right conditions, but that's demonstrably one of the worst of all the tempting places to mount an HF mobile antenna. "From this author's empirical experience, the noted difference between low mounting (trailer hitch, bumper, etc.), and high mounting(atop a quarter panel, bed rail, etc.) is typically 4 to 5 dB, or about what you would achieve by adding a mobile amplifier." - Cebik, W4RNL (sk) https://www.eham.net/article/22397 Yep. The higher the better. The hitch mount is the quickest and easiest, and the absolute worst. |
|
Years ago Gyprat told me he did some testing and getting the antenna up 4' from the hitch was the sweet spot if I remember correctly. I ended up installing my Tarheel on the side of the trunk lid and it worked ok. Not ideal but ok. |
"What have you given us Mr. Franklin?" "A Republic, if you can keep it."
|
Originally Posted By K0UA: Yep. The higher the better. The hitch mount is the quickest and easiest, and the absolute worst. Originally Posted By K0UA: Originally Posted By Prolix: Originally Posted By AnalogKid: I have a CR8900 quad band mobile antenna that's going on a stake pocket mount for when I don't have the cap on the truck. When I do, the antenna goes on a mount on top of it. If I'm not towing anything, I'll also put a Tarheel on a hitch mount. Rig is an IC-7000. May incorporate a mobile scanner too. Possibly a CB transceiver and run it on the CR8900 if the HF rig is using a Tarheel. Will work, because HF can be magic under the right conditions, but that's demonstrably one of the worst of all the tempting places to mount an HF mobile antenna. "From this author's empirical experience, the noted difference between low mounting (trailer hitch, bumper, etc.), and high mounting(atop a quarter panel, bed rail, etc.) is typically 4 to 5 dB, or about what you would achieve by adding a mobile amplifier." - Cebik, W4RNL (sk) https://www.eham.net/article/22397 Yep. The higher the better. The hitch mount is the quickest and easiest, and the absolute worst. I can fabricate the hardware necessary to get the base level with the top of the tailgate and still use the hitch receiver to mount everything. Also have an AT-140 and mount for a whip so can go that route if needed. |
|
I was excited to get HF in my vehicle. Particularly and on occasion - to at least listen to CB 19. But… the interference on anything above 12 meters darn near makes it unusable while the vehicle is running. And while not near as bad on lower frequencies, significantly raises the noise floor. I’m in a 30 year old 400,000 mile Toyota, for context. Not sure if mid nineties electronics means better or worse than something modern. Doing some digging, lots of work to reduce sources of interference. Including RF grounding every metal panel to the frame, among other things. |
|
Originally Posted By TinLeg: I was excited to get HF in my vehicle. Particularly and on occasion - to at least listen to CB 19. But… the interference on anything above 12 meters darn near makes it unusable while the vehicle is running. And while not near as bad on lower frequencies, significantly raises the noise floor. I’m in a 30 year old 400,000 mile Toyota, for context. Not sure if mid nineties electronics means better or worse than something modern. Doing some digging, lots of work to reduce sources of interference. Including RF grounding every metal panel to the frame, among other things. Good plug wires, resistor spark plugs will help with noise. I have heard more than one car drive by that had ignition noise in different places I have had my radio set up. |
World ain't what it seems, is it Gunny?
|
Originally Posted By lorazepam: Good plug wires, resistor spark plugs will help with noise. I have heard more than one car drive by that had ignition noise in different places I have had my radio set up. I tried an Icom IC-706MkIIG and a Xiegu G90 in my 2010 F150 with plenty of toroids and clamp on ferrite beads and I never could get the noise to go away. The constant ticking noise wasn't too bad on 10m or 11m but it made 12m and below useless. |
DAV lifetime member
NRA Patriot Life Benefactor
NRA Patriot Life Benefactor
|
Aluminum toolbox bonded to the frame with thick tinned braid. CB truck stop mirror mount  TARHEEL mount is more secure, I switched after some asshole stole my TARHEEL II    K-400 3/8" mount on Camry  Some vehicles are RF quiet, some are very noisy Hybrid and Electric are NO-GO Honda, Toyota, Jeep, Nissan, have been pretty good. the worst was my 1993 Ford Ranger V6 4x4. I hade to bond every piece of sheetmetal to the frame, still noisy, then I bonded the tailpipe and it was much better. HF mobile is a lot of fun. POTA from a mobile is nice when it's raining or the bugs are biting. Busting a DX pile-up while playing POTA is a blast    |
|
I use this on my 2020 tacoma. https://caliraisedled.com/products/2016-2021-bed-accessory-mount |
"Go low, go slow and preferably in the dark", the old Sarge.
"Every man needs at least one good rifle and know how to use it," Dad.
"Dad, we either kill them in their country or they will kill us in ours"
"Every man needs at least one good rifle and know how to use it," Dad.
"Dad, we either kill them in their country or they will kill us in ours"
|
Antennas are only limited by your imagination. I have 2 fairly unigue HF antennas on my Tundra. It is an 8 foot bed ( which helps with the second antenna ) and had a fiberglass cap on top ( which helps with the first antenna ). the first HF antenna is 80-6 meters with an 11 foot radiator, and the key is the radiator starts under the fiberglass cap. I have never seen anybody else that has a n 11 foot radiator ( make it more efficient ) that is used while rolling. It is a WindRiver coil mounted to the side of the bed on the track thing rear drivers side. It is ground to the track and the side of the bed with a ground cable. There are 3 movable taps on the coil. Each tap has it's own 12v 50 amp relay. I select which tap, after i have tuned the band with the tap, by using switches in the cab. Top tap is 20 - 6 meters. Mid tap is 40m and bottom tap is 60 / 80 m. 60 and 80 meter tap is just about worthless, which is why I made the second antenna. Anyway, a wire is attached to the top of the coil, the wire goes up through the fiberglass cap through a yakama luggage rack bolt hole and the wire goes to the center pin of the connector of a 102 inch whip mounted on the luggage rack. Total radiator starting with the wire at the top of the coil under the cap to the top of the whip is about 11 feet. 40m to 6m works very well although 6m is tricky because the tuner is not rated for it. I use an auto tuner to fine tune the freq / band. There is not much loss because the coax is only 25 feet long. The second antenna is a homebrew magnetic loop with a Air variable cap driven by an analog DC motor with a voltage divider circuit attached so I get a voltage readout in the cab as to the position of the capacitor and have a chart for about what frequency corresponds to the voltage. It just gives me the info on what band i am on and about where on the band the tune point is so I know to tune the cap up or down to get to the desired freq. It is crude but simple and it works, mostly. The loop is 22 feet of 1/4 in flexible aluminum tubing ( I got it for free ) that is bent into conforming to the side of the bed from the floor to the cap. It is oblong in shape. The highest current point is opposite the capacitor so I put the cap forward on the floor and the driven loop aft up against the ceiling, but the driven loop is 90 degrees to the main loop and it couples just fine and gives me 1.0 SWR when tuned. I made it for 40 and 60 meter NVIS regional comm and is about 56 db better for that than the vertical. It tunes 40, 60, 80, but is not great on 80 because the loop is small for 80, though I have made contacts on it 80m SSB. on 60 and 40 it works amazingly well . Here is a pic of the mag loop right after installation. I have since attached it better with a lot of velcro. I have pics someplace of the first antenna, if I find them I will post it. Attached File |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
.
Nobody is coming to save us.
.