I have a 706 MKII that I use for operating from home, mobile and
portable. For portable operation, I have been just throwing a dipole
antenna up, connecting it through a tuner to the radio and operating
the radio with a deep cycle marine battery. In the field, I don't
have all the electrical noises I have in the house, but it just
occurred to me that I ground the radio when home, but not in the
field.

Will grounding the radio in portable operations help anything? At
home, it cuts down on all the electrical noise created by computers,
etc. in the house. I haven't considered whether it helps with the
receive/transmit signals...


Thanks
Buck
N4PGW

--
73 for now
Buck
N4PGW

On Sat, 21 May 2005 06:57:37 -0400, Buck wrote:


I have a 706 MKII that I use for operating from home, mobile and
portable. For portable operation, I have been just throwing a dipole
antenna up, connecting it through a tuner to the radio and operating
the radio with a deep cycle marine battery. In the field, I don't
have all the electrical noises I have in the house, but it just
occurred to me that I ground the radio when home, but not in the
field.

Will grounding the radio in portable operations help anything? At
home, it cuts down on all the electrical noise created by computers,
etc. in the house. I haven't considered whether it helps with the
receive/transmit signals...


Thanks
Buck
N4PGW

So long as you're using a balanced antenna for portable operation, the
dipole you mentioned, I'm not sure what you'd gain with a ground.

If you tried something like a random wire, a ground would be very
helpful, but for a dipole, I wouldn't bother.

bob
k5qwg