[ADXA] Advice for Mobile Operations

[Trent Fleming]

Good morning,

Slightly off-topic, but I do intend to work DX as much as possible from the
vehicle.

I recently upgraded my FT-8900 to an 857D in my Tahoe.  I'm using a mag
mount with a 40m ham stick. I have the radio in the back of the unit, with
the separation kit using a Lido floor mount (which I'm very happy with, and
actually used with my 8900 as well.

 Earlier this week I drove a big circle from Memphis to Columbus Ohio back
through Southern Illinois and on to Memphis.  I was extremely pleased with
the performance of this setup from a receiving standpoint.  Sunday
afternoon I listened to several contest stations from Europe, South America
and the Caribbean working stations in North America, Asia, etc. 40, 20, and
15 were all very readable.

Monday afternoon and evening, as well as Tuesday afternoon and evening, I
listened to domestic stations on 80, 40, and 20.  I was able to listen in
on the Arkansas Razorback net at 630pm both nights, hearing not only net
control but many of the check ins.

At this point, in spite of my antenna analyzer showing a good match around
7.2 mhz, I am unable to transmit with any power due to high SWR.  I also
have significant noise on 40 and 20 when accelerating, but very little
noise at cruising speeds on any band, or while idling.

So, I have some work to do, but I have these questions for those of you who
operate mobile HF

1) do you ground the radio to the car body?  If so, how?
2) what type of engine noise suppression, if any, have you used?
3) is the magnetic mount less than ideal?
4) I'm looking at the ATAS-120, versus the Tarheel antenna.  I think the
tarheel, with a lip mount on the back lid of the Tahoe looks like a good
idea.  I also see much better reviews on the Tarheel vs the ATAS-120
5) Thinking about trying my LDG remote tuner (which I used at the base of
my 43' vertical antenna) on the hamstick to see how it does

Thank you for any and all suggestions - I am primarily interested in
responses from those who have successfully implemented mobile HF.
Feel free to respond directly if you feel this is too far off topic for the
list.

73,

Trent
N4DTF
EM55
-- 
Trent Fleming


 My blog on banking topics:

www.bankinginsights.blogspot.com

My web site

        www.trentfleming.com

Follow me on FaceBook
        www.facebook.com/thetechnologyadvisor

Follow me on Twitter
        www.twitter.com/techadvisor
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/adxa/attachments/20201030/c1890aac/attachment.html>