New Installation ?

[mrgizmow]

Help, just installed a Uniden PC 78 in my offroad VW. Since I do not have a roof, I mounted my new Wilson 1000 mag mount on a 5" x 5" steel plate I welded to the top of my roll bar. My SWR is about 1.6 with whip adjusted using meter, radio power direct from bat. using very thick coax. Two questions; how can I get rid of engine static, RF gain and squelch seem to do ok, but I would rather stop it at engine, also, my CB has 7 weather channels and the Wilson says weather channel ready, but the reception seems marginal for the weather stuff but ok for CB....... Any ideas on how to minimize engine static and improve weather reception........ THANKS to all

 

[bcrewcaptain]

1st thing I would do is lose the magmount, I use the exact same antenna but only due to limited mounting options.
But if you are going to fab a mount for it anyway....drill a hole in the plate and you have a good spot to mount. This will cause a couple different thing to happen. It will increase your ground for the antenna which MAY help improve reception and it certainly could help with the noise problem as well, however the ant/power leads/ant cable being in proximity to the ignition system could certainly be causing this also!

 

[Moleculo]

Ignition noise is one of the most common and most difficult problems to solve with CB's or other HF radios. One thing you can try pretty easily: Buy a radio shack inline noise filter. It goes on the power leads to the CB and should be installed as close to the radio as possible. That may eliminate most or all the noise.

As far as the weather channels go: A lot of the NOAA weather stations broadcast from around airports and cities. I'm not sure how close you are to either, but if you're not, the signal will be weak.

 

[mrgizmow]

Static/antenna mount

Thanks for the info.. Can I convert the magmount to solid? How ?.. Thanks again.

 

[Moleculo]

IT depends on the magmount. I gave my Wilson 1000 to a friend, so I don't have it took at anymore, but I think the coil screws off the magnet base? If that's the case, you could come up with a mount to screw it onto something else.

 

[nomadradio]

Drove air-cooled VWs for years. All of them but one had a generator, not an alternator. The voltage regulator is a box with three relays in it, constantly chattering away. The voltage regulator made noises that the radio's blanker would NOT suppress. I bolted three coaxial capacitors to the body metal alonside the regulator, one each feeding the "D", "B+" and the one that goes to the dashboard idiot light. The field terminal needed a noise filter with a coil and a capacitor. This worked on the '70 and '71 buses, and on the '73 beetle.

Had one beetle with an alternator on the motor, and a solid-state Motorola regulator. Didn't have this problem with that motor.

The fuel gauge is regulated by a little metal box that has a 'buzzer' inside it. A disc capacitor in parallel with it may or may not help. Couldn't hear the noise from this part until all the other stuff got done. Tried making a 'solid-state' regulator for the fuel gauge using a 3-terminal regulator chip, but it was sensitive to temperature changes.

Using suppressor plug wires helped. If the capacitor to ground on the battery terminal of the ignition coil is gone, you need one of those, too.

73

 

[mrgizmow]

INSTALLATION

Thanks for the tips folks. Went to an auto parts store and got the filter for the hot input from the battery, did not seem to net much but I enjoyed hooking it up. My bug is a 64 and the fuel gauge is actuated by a thin wire and a float in the tank (very low tech). The engine is setup with an alternator. Guess my next move is to change my fancy smancy super thick ignition wires for something designed to minimize noise. I will also peel off the plastic sheeting on the bottom of the Wilson mag mount and see if there is a bolt to expose or attach a grounding wire to............... Thanks, and keep those suggestions comming.