[Antennas] Engine Noise on HF Radio

[Avi]

I've found that if there's a poor or corroded connection anywhere on the charging path between the alternator and the battery, whether on the plus side or the ground side, the resistance across that connection, even if only a portion of an ohm, can generate enough rf to be quite annoying, and its cheaper to go over all your connections than to replace a battery that may still have useful life in it. Everybody has their own idea about the best way to clean and protect vehicle power connect connections - I usually use a wire brush or sandpaper, and have yet to form an opinion about the relative advantages of good old grease as opposed to something like De-oxit.
-avi 4X6UA

Ray Brown <kb0stn at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
>----- Original Message ----- 
>From: "Art Barbetta Jr N8RKA" <n8rka at n8rka.us>
>
>
>>I have a Tarhill II screwdriver antenna on my 2008 Focus.
>> When I put my FT-857 in my car I get a whining noise that increases when 
>> you accelerate the noise get faster.
>>  What can be done to get rid of the noise..
>
>  Well, you have classic alternator whine. One of the causes of the whine
>could be that one of the 6 diodes in the alternator is either blown open,
>or more likely blown shorted. The rest of the alternator can still keep the
>battery charged but the one winding would make a classic half-wave
>ripple that the battery is trying to dampen but can't completely cover it up.
>
>  Another possible cause could be that the battery is getting weak and
>it's not smoothing out the output from the alternator. That would be easy
>enough to check out, if your battery is between 2 to 3 years old, it may
>be in your best interest to replace it and see if that clears your whine up.
>Otherwise, you may have to test the alternator and see if it can produce
>the full output it's rated for. If it only puts out 2/3 of rated output, that would
>confirm the blown/shorted diode and a new alternator is in order.
>
>  Good luck!
>
>                        Ray, KB0STN
>
>
>
>
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