Al Arduengo wrote:

starman wrote:
Al Arduengo wrote:

How would I best eliminate engine noise while listening to SW? I spend
about 24 hrs a week on the interstate between Dallas and Austin and
would love to be able to listen to SW. I rigged up my windup antenna by
running it out the window of my truck and routing it around the bed back
to the other side. The problem is that when using the external antenna
I get very prominent engine noise unless the station I am listening to
is quite strong. How would I (or can I) reduce or eliminate the noise?
Is there an elegant way to implement a crude sw antenna on a vehicle?

Clear Skies and 73,
-Al


You should run the radio on batteries. Try a basic whip antenna. I use
one with a magnet mount base. Put it on the roof of the cab. Don't use a
CB antenna, just a long whip. Connect the coax of the whip to the
receiver's external antenna jack with the appropriate plug. Also try
grounding the hood of the truck better. Do this by connecting a flexible
grounding strap conductor between the hood and the body under the hood,
such as the firewall area. If the truck has a diesel engine (no ignition
system) the grounding strap probably won't help much but you still might
be getting some noise from the engine's computer control system, so the
strap is worth a try. Let us know how it goes.


I do use batteries and without the external antenna there was little or
no noise. Would connecting my trucks whip to my sw rado's whip do the
same thing?

Thanks for the help!
-Al

The truck's whip would probably help but a seperate (longer) whip would
be better. The problem with using the existing truck antenna is finding
a way to connect it *just* to the shortwave radio while it's
disconnected from the truck radio. That can be a hassle and it's why I
recommend a dedicated whip for the shortwave radio.


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