On 25 Jul 2006 21:21:34 -0700, "SparkySKO" wrote
in om:

Alrighty, so I was a little wrong, and a little right when I said it
fixed my problem.

The electric blower motors, windshield wiper motor, etc, noise has gone
away. I just discovered that a power line right next to my house
overbears all the other noise that I now discovered my car is putting
out. My cars still putting out RF noise, I'm presuming from the spark
plugs and the fuel pump. Any suggestions beyond the capacitor trick? My
noise level drops to S0 or S1 when everything in my truck is off, and
when i'm away from the powerlines


Ground your radio. And by "ground" I mean an RF ground which you get
by mounting the bracket directly to the metal and/or using a -=SHORT=-
ground wire. You can't fudge on this ground.


(unfortunately, my car can only go
about 30 feet from the powerline, which isn't far enough away to have
an effect).


Dude, that's some terrible gas mileage. Maybe your car just needs a
tuneup..... hey, I thought you said it was a truck?


Any suggestions for helping reduce the powerline noise? (This is large
main powerline that is going into my noise, not powerline for my car).


That noise may be unavoidable. Can you do the flourescent bulb thing?

Ground your radio. And by "ground" I mean an RF ground which you get
by mounting the bracket directly to the metal and/or using a -=SHORT=-
ground wire. You can't fudge on this ground.

I'm using an L bracket screwed straight into my fender, it sticks out
from under the hood. Pretty sure it's grounded. I've tried a grounding
strap anyways on the antenna, and no difference, unless I ground the
whip of the antenna, then my antenna doesn't work

Dude, that's some terrible gas mileage. Maybe your car just needs a
tuneup..... hey, I thought you said it was a truck?

Yeah, well, I live on a VERY steep hill, my house in on stilts, our
driveway is fill dirt and flat enough to park a car on, but anywhere
beyond the fill dirt is so steep my truck will roll over. Unfortunately
my 'flat spot of parking goodness' isn't bigger than 50'x30 with the
powerline for the house going lengwith along it.

I guess I might want to look into a combo base/mobile rig, so I can run
some coax down the hill to an antenna and get away from the powerlines
or park in front of my neighbors house to talk. (People give you
strange looks if you park in their neighborhood with your dashboard
tore out, frantically trying to get a QSO).. One word.. TERRORISM.

On 26 Jul 2006 07:21:32 -0700, "SparkySKO" wrote
in .com:

Ground your radio. And by "ground" I mean an RF ground which you get
by mounting the bracket directly to the metal and/or using a -=SHORT=-
ground wire. You can't fudge on this ground.

I'm using an L bracket screwed straight into my fender, it sticks out
from under the hood. Pretty sure it's grounded. I've tried a grounding
strap anyways on the antenna, and no difference, unless I ground the
whip of the antenna, then my antenna doesn't work


No, I said ground the RADIO; i.e, the Midland.


Dude, that's some terrible gas mileage. Maybe your car just needs a
tuneup..... hey, I thought you said it was a truck?

Yeah, well, I live on a VERY steep hill, my house in on stilts, our
driveway is fill dirt and flat enough to park a car on, but anywhere
beyond the fill dirt is so steep my truck will roll over. Unfortunately
my 'flat spot of parking goodness' isn't bigger than 50'x30 with the
powerline for the house going lengwith along it.


I was just joking. But the power line is just the line going to the
house? I was under the impression that you were sitting under a major
distribution line or something. If the noise is coming from your house
power line you should be able to find out the source of the noise by
shutting off things in the house. A computer UPS or security backup
supply can cause gobs of noise, as can light dimmers and other small
appliances.


I guess I might want to look into a combo base/mobile rig, so I can run
some coax down the hill to an antenna and get away from the powerlines
or park in front of my neighbors house to talk. (People give you
strange looks if you park in their neighborhood with your dashboard
tore out, frantically trying to get a QSO).. One word.. TERRORISM.


It would be better if you could run the coax -up- the hill and mount
the antenna as high as possible.

No, I said ground the RADIO; i.e, the Midland.

Oh. yeah. Funny thing about that. I can remove the groundwire from my
radio and it'll get it's ground from the antenna cable. 1 wire power
. But yeah, Tried touching a groundwire to everything on the radio,
the coax connector, the back of the radio, the mounting screws. twisted
the negative battery wire, the negative radio wire and the ground wire
together, no change.

I was just joking. But the power line is just the line going to the
house? I was under the impression that you were sitting under a major
distribution line or something. If the noise is coming from your house
power line you should be able to find out the source of the noise by
shutting off things in the house. A computer UPS or security backup
supply can cause gobs of noise, as can light dimmers and other small
appliances.

That's a good idea, I didn't think about the noise coming from devices
IN my house. I have quiet a few noisy flourescent lights that interfere
with my shortwave radio. Cursed cheap ballasts.

It would be better if you could run the coax -up- the hill and mount
the antenna as high as possible.

I wish I could. Uphill is the road and my neighbors. Luckily, in
Oregon, we have huge trees. I'll say it's a christmas ornament.

On 26 Jul 2006 14:45:25 -0700, "SparkySKO" wrote
in .com:


No, I said ground the RADIO; i.e, the Midland.

Oh. yeah. Funny thing about that. I can remove the groundwire from my
radio and it'll get it's ground from the antenna cable. 1 wire power
. But yeah, Tried touching a groundwire to everything on the radio,
the coax connector, the back of the radio, the mounting screws. twisted
the negative battery wire, the negative radio wire and the ground wire
together, no change.


It won't make any difference unless that ground (from the car chassis
to the radio) is very short.... just a few inches. Bolt the radio's
mounting bracket directly to metal (or as close to it as possible),
then run a SHORT ground wire to the metal.


I was just joking. But the power line is just the line going to the
house? I was under the impression that you were sitting under a major
distribution line or something. If the noise is coming from your house
power line you should be able to find out the source of the noise by
shutting off things in the house. A computer UPS or security backup
supply can cause gobs of noise, as can light dimmers and other small
appliances.

That's a good idea, I didn't think about the noise coming from devices
IN my house. I have quiet a few noisy flourescent lights that interfere
with my shortwave radio. Cursed cheap ballasts.

It would be better if you could run the coax -up- the hill and mount
the antenna as high as possible.

I wish I could. Uphill is the road and my neighbors. Luckily, in
Oregon, we have huge trees. I'll say it's a christmas ornament.


You're in beaverland? I'm just over here in Spokane. Are you on the
wet or dry side of the state?

It won't make any difference unless that ground (from the car chassis
to the radio) is very short.... just a few inches. Bolt the radio's
mounting bracket directly to metal (or as close to it as possible),
then run a SHORT ground wire to the metal.

This new radio I got, the Cobre 75, had a little matchbox that the
radio plugs into (it has the power and the antenna cable coming into
it, rest of radio is in a big microphone. I tried shoving that around
on various grounded UNPAINTED parts of my vehicle, and no difference.

I'm wondering how close a capacitor has to be to the fuel pump to
actually have an effect. I'm going to try putting a noise filter inline
at the fuse block, and if that doesn't work, deeply ponder whether I
want to work under the truck on my gravel driveway .

I was just joking. But the power line is just the line going to the
house? I was under the impression that you were sitting under a major
distribution line or something. If the noise is coming from your house
power line you should be able to find out the source of the noise by
shutting off things in the house. A computer UPS or security backup
supply can cause gobs of noise, as can light dimmers and other small
appliances.

That's a good idea, I didn't think about the noise coming from devices
IN my house. I have quiet a few noisy flourescent lights that interfere
with my shortwave radio. Cursed cheap ballasts.

It would be better if you could run the coax -up- the hill and mount
the antenna as high as possible.

I wish I could. Uphill is the road and my neighbors. Luckily, in
Oregon, we have huge trees. I'll say it's a christmas ornament.


You're in beaverland? I'm just over here in Spokane. Are you on the
wet or dry side of the state?

Yeah, Actually Beaverton. Wet side. I'm on the other side of the hill,
a few miles from downtown Portland. I'm smack dab in the middle of all
of the interestates and major highways in Oregon (at least within 5
miles). The 5, 405, 26, 84/30, 217. I wish I could reliably hear
traffic on the 5!!

My little portable shortwave radio is easier to understand than my CB
radio is on the same signals

Maybe I'll just duct tape that to my dashboard . Kicks major arse
with the 100 foot longwire.

On 26 Jul 2006 15:55:07 -0700, "SparkySKO" wrote
in . com:

It won't make any difference unless that ground (from the car chassis
to the radio) is very short.... just a few inches. Bolt the radio's
mounting bracket directly to metal (or as close to it as possible),
then run a SHORT ground wire to the metal.

This new radio I got, the Cobre 75, had a little matchbox that the
radio plugs into (it has the power and the antenna cable coming into
it, rest of radio is in a big microphone. I tried shoving that around
on various grounded UNPAINTED parts of my vehicle, and no difference.


Just to clarify, you grounded the "matchbox" part? And it didn't clear
up the noise? If so then that might be the best you can do. I would
focus on noise from some appliance in your house.


I'm wondering how close a capacitor has to be to the fuel pump to
actually have an effect. I'm going to try putting a noise filter inline
at the fuse block, and if that doesn't work, deeply ponder whether I
want to work under the truck on my gravel driveway .


As close to the fuel pump as possible. Just throw down a tarp. It's
worth the effort. You could also try using coax for the power line
from your battery (and grounding the shield), but that doesn't always
work.


I was just joking. But the power line is just the line going to the
house? I was under the impression that you were sitting under a major
distribution line or something. If the noise is coming from your house
power line you should be able to find out the source of the noise by
shutting off things in the house. A computer UPS or security backup
supply can cause gobs of noise, as can light dimmers and other small
appliances.

That's a good idea, I didn't think about the noise coming from devices
IN my house. I have quiet a few noisy flourescent lights that interfere
with my shortwave radio. Cursed cheap ballasts.

It would be better if you could run the coax -up- the hill and mount
the antenna as high as possible.

I wish I could. Uphill is the road and my neighbors. Luckily, in
Oregon, we have huge trees. I'll say it's a christmas ornament.


You're in beaverland? I'm just over here in Spokane. Are you on the
wet or dry side of the state?

Yeah, Actually Beaverton. Wet side. I'm on the other side of the hill,
a few miles from downtown Portland. I'm smack dab in the middle of all
of the interestates and major highways in Oregon (at least within 5
miles). The 5, 405, 26, 84/30, 217. I wish I could reliably hear
traffic on the 5!!


I worked at a radio shop in Albany in the late '80's and drove through
Portland on occasion when they were building all those highways......
gawd what a mess!!! One time it took me two hours to drive just two
miles! I hope it's improved since then.....