Al Arduengo wrote in message ...
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

I think the antenna and feedline, or should I say, lack of one, are
the main problem. If I understand it correctly, you are running a
random wire of sorts strung from the radio, and then around the bed of
the truck. If you want to cut the noise, you need to mount an antenna
that uses a well grounded mount, and is not coupling to the body of
the truck. It's quite possible your MW antenna on the truck would be
better than the wire being it has a grounded base. Or I assume
anyway... What you really want, if you want top results, is a loaded
whip much the same as a ham would run mobile. A hamstick "helically
wound loaded whip" would be great as a mobile SWL antenna. You can buy
them for each of the ham bands, and tuning and match for just
receiving is not critical at all. So lets say you like 31m SW as an
example...A 40, 30, or 20 meter hamstick would work fine. The 30 meter
stick giving the best match. But the real secret is having a good well
grounded base under the whip, and coax feeding the antenna. Being a
ham, I have a 80-10 meter mobile antenna. "Works nearly all the HF
bands". It's great for SWL, and noise is not a real problem. In fact,
I get more noise generated from my tires at high speeds, than I do
ignition noise. The hamsticks mount about the same as a helical CB
antenna, and are cheap. Maybe 15-25 bucks apiece...Depends where you
buy it...You want to keep the antenna itself as far away from the body
of the truck as possible to avoid coupling to it. You really need a
vertical whip to do that...
MK