On Tue, 09 Nov 2004 22:10:18 GMT, "Brian"
wrote:

If your house mains are noisy, are you positive that the noise is entering
through the AC line cord? It's very likely you're picking it up direct via
the antenna. If so, a battery won't help the noise coming in through an
antenna.


Yeah, I get zero noise when the mains are shut off. How have you connected
your receiver to the battery, is there some kind of converter for this?


No converter required, just an appropriate connector. Not sure of the
size as I was feeling like truly stimulating the economy and ordered
the Icom 12V cable with connector. Hook it directly to the batter
and you're set. dxAce is right about the deep cycle battery, they
are designed for use under load and being drained half-way or so on a
regular basis, a series 24 (typically around 80 amp hour rating) would
be sufficient and give 40+ hours of radio time before you'd need to
consider recharging the battery. Another option is to get a trickle
charger and just leave it on - except when using the radio as it would
be a noise source.

Howard