[Mobile-Portable] Ford Excursion

[Dick Flanagan]

At 10:45 PM 9/16/2009, N5WV wrote:
 >Hello Group. Im new to this group so bare with me.  I have a
 >2003 Ford Excursion  6.0 diesel. I want to make a communications
 >vehicle out of it similar to the ones used by the Red Cross.  The
 >only modification that I have done so far is upgrading the alternator
 >to a 250 amp unit.  But this vehicle has noise problems at HF.

The very first step is to ground the end of the tailpipe to the frame 
using a short length of flexible braid.  I strip the shield off an 
appropriate length of RG-213.  Most tailpipes are insulated from the 
frame to minimize vibration.  This results in a nicely radiating 
quarter-wavelength antenna.  All the QRN from the engine is radiated 
via the tailpipe.  Ground it first and then try your other remedies.

Dick
--
Dick Flanagan K7VC
dick at k7vc.com