How to route an antenna cable?

[ituner-HF]

Any suggestions on how I can run a thin coax from inside the cabin to the outside for VHF/UHF/HF antennas?
I am thinking of using the Light Bar Accessory port and have the antennas mounted on roof rack rails (provided that the rails are electrically connected to the chassis)

I still prefer running the coax to the bed area since it has a better ground plane but have no idea if there is an elegant way that doesn't involve drilling....

For 12V power I am thinking of using a small LIFEPO 12V battery that is charged by USB-C (15V/3A)

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[Woodrick]

Any suggestions on how I can run a thin coax from inside the cabin to the outside for VHF/UHF/HF antennas?
I am thinking of using the Light Bar Accessory port and have the antennas mounted on roof rack rails (provided that the rails are electrically connected to the chassis)

I still prefer running the coax to the bed area since it has a better ground plane but have no idea if there is an elegant way that doesn't involve drilling....

For 12V power I am thinking of using a small LIFEPO 12V battery that is charged by USB-C (15V/3A)

I'm pretty sure that my VHF/UHF antennas are going to get mounted on the hood with a trunk lip mount. There's a ground plane there and none on the roof.
For HF, still thinking, maybe hitch, maybe crossbars.
Radios probably in the frunk with heads inside.
I believe that there is power in the frunk and a 48V-12V inverter should do the trick.

 

[ituner-HF]

I'm pretty sure that my VHF/UHF antennas are going to get mounted on the hood with a trunk lip mount. There's a ground plane there and none on the roof.
For HF, still thinking, maybe hitch, maybe crossbars.
Radios probably in the frunk with heads inside.
I believe that there is power in the frunk and a 48V-12V inverter should do the trick.

Hitch mount always looks good. IMHO, best place would be on the truck bed sides, but the top is plastic, might involve drilling and could be unstable.

 

[Woodrick]

Hitch mount always looks good. IMHO, best place would be on the truck bed sides, but the top is plastic, might involve drilling and could be unstable.

If mounting on the roof, I've already thought about the Larsen thru-glass antennas. I've used a number of them and always had good luck. They aren't as common as they once were, but they are still sold.

It might be a lot of work getting the antenna from the bed into the passenger compartment. The tonneau cover makes most of the area unusable.

I'm wondering how hard it will be to go from the frunk into the cab. Or in other words, is there really a firewall still there?

 

[ituner-HF]

>I'm wondering how hard it will be to go from the frunk into the cab. Or in other words, is there really >a firewall still there?

See the cable marked with blue, it penetrates the firewall. Dunno if the same pathway can be used, I am sure it is waterproofed somehow. 1st picture I took it at the GigaFactory, looks like the 'firewall' has a lot of holes, at least at this stage. You can see cable harness in both pictures. The 2nd picture is in a teardown youtube video called "dissecting Cybertruck Part 2", very infornmative

 

[ituner-HF]

Here is the wiring in the back of the cybertruck. Also shows the warterproofing.

 

[SparkChaser]

All this empty space on each side.
Room for a compressor? and an air tank on the other side?

 

[tbuck]

If mounting on the roof, I've already thought about the Larsen thru-glass antennas. I've used a number of them and always had good luck. They aren't as common as they once were, but they are still sold.

It might be a lot of work getting the antenna from the bed into the passenger compartment. The tonneau cover makes most of the area unusable.

I'm wondering how hard it will be to go from the frunk into the cab. Or in other words, is there really a firewall still there?

I would check on the roof glass of the CT before going that route. If there is any metallic tinting in or on the glass, it will cause issues - probably leading to the inside cable and coil acting as your longwire antenna.

 

[tbuck]

I'm pretty sure that my VHF/UHF antennas are going to get mounted on the hood with a trunk lip mount. There's a ground plane there and none on the roof.
For HF, still thinking, maybe hitch, maybe crossbars.
Radios probably in the frunk with heads inside.
I believe that there is power in the frunk and a 48V-12V inverter should do the trick.

Love this idea!

The 48V wire is in the right-front wheel well and is accessible behind the panel in the frunk.

I was thinking about a cross bar for antennas - simply to get them higher, but agree that my 2M/70cm antennas will most-likely be on the frunk.

I also think that nice open area in front the center console is a good place for a cabinet to mount the radio heads, mics, and speaker if you want).

Lots of possibilities with the CT.

 

[ituner-HF]

All this empty space on each side.
Room for a compressor? and an air tank on the other side?

Progressive crash structure? Still, it looks very strange, the orange gap is huge.

 

[Old ICU Doc]

When you figure this out, please update thread. Looking to do same. -- W0QIS.

 

[Woodrick]

I took my truck to Hamvention at Xenia. I couldn't be a self-respecting ham without an antenna and radio on it.
Luckily, Diamond Antenna is a neighbor and I took the truck over last week. For a first, quick attempt we decided to go with the stick-on mount and antenna
Diamond® Antenna ~ NR770HRKS Dualband Mobile Antenna (diamondantenna.net)

It was mounted on the rear roof glass on the right-rear of the roof. From there, there is a seam that you can insert the coax to get it into the door well. And I then routed that tucking into the top of the door well and then along the front edge of the door seal to the bottom. At the bottom, I lifted the door seam up and crossed into the truck and ran under the mat to the center console, under the seat to the front. It did require some more coax to get there.

For now I used my Icom IC-705 which was in my W2HVH case and it sat well on the floor under the monitor.
The W2HVH case has a 4AH Bioenno battery in it, along with the battery in the IC-705 that lasted all day for the trip.

I did decide to pickup a 15AH Bioenno battery in Xenia. It has a maximum discharge current of 30A, so it should be able to power anything. And I'm looking at using the USB-C to charge it.

That's my XYL in the bed and you can see the antenna slightly to the left on the gentlemen's head on the left. Even after the day was over on Saturday, I couldn't get a picture on the Cybertruck without people around it.

I've got to have a few days to recover and see what the next steps are.

 

[Leemanpa]

Any chance you can take some pics to show exactly where the runs went?

 

[Woodrick]

Any chance you can take some pics to show exactly where the runs went?

Not really, I'd tend to have to take the cable out to see where it is and it's mostly black cable on black.

First, it's the RG-174 small cable that Diamond uses. It's really easy to follow the path.
The antenna is mounted on the lowest point of the roof on passenger's side. (much better chance of clearing garage doors and other low hanging objects).
There's a small channel between the roof and the side panel, just drop it in the channel.
Where the trim piece above the door meets the rear quarter panel trim, there's another gap, use that the transition from the roof into the door frame.
All the rubber gasket that the window lays against comes off, you really don't have to take it off, just life it and tuck the coax behind it. Follow the gasket toward the front of the rear door down to the bottom.
At the bottom, there's an overlap of trim pieces on the threshold (if I remember correctly), slip it under the threshold and then down under the floor mats to wherever is needed.

 

[panthar]

any figured out a passage ? need to run wire/cable from inside the cabin to the bed ...

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