Amateur Radio Antenna

[Anteojito]

I was just wondering if anyone out there has attached an Amateur Radio Antenna (2M/70cm bands) to their Tesla. If so, what mount did you use? I was looking at the DIamond KC400C mount. I suppose mag mounts are out of the question, unless there's enough metal on the hatchback.

 

[lobos]

I saw a video of a ham up in Minnesota recently who drives a Model 3 and has some sort of lip mount like the Diamond KC400C clamped to the upper outside part of the passenger side rear trunk lid. I received my Model 3 mid-June (2022) and continue to ponder options. I wonder if any have considered the... gulp... old-school way of drilling the traditional three-fourths-inch hole in the middle of the rear trunk lid and dropping a standard NMO connector there. Of course, inside the trunk lid is covered with a plastic cover, then there is running the coax to the radio body. I am planning to migrate my Yaesu FTM-400XDR from my last commuter ride to the Model 3. As far as that piece of the puzzle, I see another post from June 1, 2021, outlining another owner's experience in mounting this rig in a Model X. Please let us know what you decide to do, and if you are so inclined, share some pictures.

 

[Anteojito]

I saw a video of a ham up in Minnesota recently who drives a Model 3 and has some sort of lip mount like the Diamond KC400C clamped to the upper outside part of the passenger side rear trunk lid. I received my Model 3 mid-June (2022) and continue to ponder options. I wonder if any have considered the... gulp... old-school way of drilling the traditional three-fourths-inch hole in the middle of the rear trunk lid and dropping a standard NMO connector there. Of course, inside the trunk lid is covered with a plastic cover, then there is running the coax to the radio body. I am planning to migrate my Yaesu FTM-400XDR from my last commuter ride to the Model 3. As far as that piece of the puzzle, I see another post from June 1, 2021, outlining another owner's experience in mounting this rig in a Model X. Please let us know what you decide to do, and if you are so inclined, share some pictures.

I discovered that there is not a lot of ferrous metal on the outside of the car. I can put a mag mount on the lip of the tailgate, the hood and doors are non-ferrous. Do you have a link for that MN Ham and his mount video? I've been thinking of using my Diamond KC400C on the hood, but don't know how to get the coax except through the passenger door. Also thinking of putting the KC400C on the trunk door.

 

[lobos]

I hope this will accept links -

 

[Anteojito]

I hope this will accept links -

thanks for the link. I still have the same question that many commentators on the video had: How did he get the coax inside the cabin?

 

[lobos]

All the videos I have seen show the cabling wrapping around the metal edges near where the mounts are attached to the car, followed by routing around the trunk lid struts and being routed alongside where the rear seat backs connect on the pivot points that allow them to be folded to extend trunk storage into the back seat. Then, they simply run the coax under floor mats or near / under the door sill where it can be routed near or under the front seats to get it up to the front center console where the radio bodies tend to be. Sorry for the mouthful sentence, but wonder if that helps.

I was looking into what it would take to drill a hole in the trunk lid. I am worried the big plastic trim piece on the inside of the trunk lid might not come out as easily as I would hope, or worse, not go back in as easily as it came out (or at all). Since the parts details of the cars are still somewhat unknown / proprietary and the car is new, I do not want to do something intentionally that could be seen as voiding the warranty. In that case, I would run the cable through the trunk lid and down either of the arms attaching it to the car, then fish it around the back seats and see if I could lift interior door sill trim to get it up to the front seat and around the foot space to the center console, concealing it a bit. The same concern exists regarding digging into interior trim, even with industry standard tools because there really are not drawings of the parts available that show where one should pry things or whether to expect them to pop back together when you are done routing the coax cable.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

My new Model Y is going to be a medical response vehicle, and I need two radios/antennas. I'm going to see if I can mount my radio bodies in what I call the "basement" (under the trunk floor), specifically the forward one, which won't really hold much else. I'll be using two trunk-lip NMO antenna mounts (VHF/UHF and 800 MHz). It'd be a relatively short run from the hatch to the basement.

The idea I have for power (for both radios and all-LED emergency lights) is to get a 12V lithium (I think 50 AH will last quite some time) and put that in the larger basement, and charge it from the 12V power outlet (or, perhaps, simply its wires), which can output 12A continuous. I'm assuming, but haven't confirmed, that is only energized when the car is "on" (and thus that will be time to charge the aux battery) and will go off when the car is off, but the battery will keep radios/lights running for some time when parked.

I'm well stocked with heavy gauge wire, and Anderson Power Pole connectors and distribution blocks!

 

[Harry Harry]

I installed a Anytone 578 in my Tesla 3 and I used a magnet antenna mount. It took me less than 30 minutes to get it all done.
After I took these pictures, I "cleaned up" the cables and the radio fits and looks nice.