Ham Radio installs in newer pickups

[caps]

you either didn't read my post.. or you misunderstood what I said.

I'm advocating a perfect ground with nothing else in line with ground. nothing biasing ground like a bad connection.. and nothing that lifts ground.. like an OPEN fuse would.

you've managed to vehemently agree with me by telling me i'm wrong. quite odd.....

I had my engi9neering degree before i got my ham ticket. i knew about radio propogation and ac/dc circuits long before i ever had a rig..

Well, perhaps I misunderstood but when you said "Ground is Ground", I thought you were implying that anyplace on a vehicles chassis was ground. I didn't read "Perfect Ground" into any of your post. I also have had my ham ticket since 1964 although didn't get my degree until 1970 then spent a few years in the military as a SSB radio repair tech. I built my first two rigs. Wish I still had them - well at least the receiver anyway. The transmitter, using two 4CX250B's kinda sucked - big, heavy, noisy fans, never could get the VFO really stable. Anyway I still recommend anyone read the reference if intending to put a transmitter in a vehicle as it points out lots of common errors and erroneous thinking regarding mobile antennas, grounds, interference, etc.
Sorry if I came across as being a bit aggressive.

 

[Soundguy]

Well, perhaps I misunderstood but when you said "Ground is Ground", I thought you were implying that anyplace on a vehicles chassis was ground. .

any place on a vehicle isn't ground.

ground is GROUND. I'm not refering to two body panes with apint between them.. or rusty sheet metal.. or a padded bumper bolted to a painted frame with some carriage bolts .

when I saw 'ground' I'm referencing GROUND, in the electrical sense. painted sheet metal bolted to other painted sheet metal 20' fromt he battery is not ground. it's some version of biased / lifted ground most of the time.

some bat ground cables have an aux wire on them not used. i LIKE those.. otherwise the strap from bat grounded post to frame can be a good tap.. assuming you keep the cables clean.

that's what I mean when i say ground.. I'm talking common... not something with 1.5 ohms of paint and rust thru ti. or i would have said that.

i'f you've read any of my antique tractor wireing posts.. I'll commonly use the phrase that 70 year old rusty sheet metal is not a good ground fro headlamps..e tc.. and that I always run a ground wire back to a real ground reference.

me and a buddy, when in high school built a class C and were paid a visit by the FCC... interesting day. they made us shut down out class project because the loacal radio station was complaining a tad...

after the dean and the fcc left.. we DID get a decent grade on the transmitter.. though were scolded onthe re-broadcast..

 

[caps]

Sorry, haven't read any of your antique tractor posts but all of what you said in this last post is right on. I was never visited by the FCC but the very first "QSL" card I got was from an FCC monitoring station saying something to the effect that I was operating with spurious and harmonic radiation and I had to shut down and had 15 days to provide a notarized reply as to what I had done to fix the problem. Otherwise they were going to fine me or send me to jail.... I was 15 years old and they scared the heck out of me. I tossed my little one tube 15 watt Crystal controlled CW transmitter in the trash. Not that big a loss - was made of old TV parts and the chassis was a piece of plywood. Only owned one crystal anyway and soldered it right into the circuit.

 

[Soundguy]

funny. I was about that age too.. 15. we built a transmitter and have the antenna going out the window... we were essentially re broadcasting 1 radio stations signal on aother stations freq and apparrently for a couple miles around the school.. it was full quieting..

didn't take very long for an fcc sniffer to go to the school.. dean brought them to electronics lab.. me and my buddies device was easilly identified as the source.. we were called out of class to report to electronics. we met inthe hallway on the way there and figured the ruse was up

they scared us more than anything.

after all the suits left the electronics teacher ( an old radar tech from post ww2 ) told us great job.. now take it all apart..

I think he was kinda privvately pround.. though he couldn't say it. we didn't have to make another project.. he let that one count. I think they were worried with what we might make next.

 

[caps]

funny. I was about that age too.. 15. we built a transmitter and have the antenna going out the window... I think they were worried with what we might make next.

Ha! That is a funny story. My mom was always worried about what we were gonna make next. With five boys in the house you never knew.. I remember the time we got a recipe for gunpowder from the library and decided to make a couple pounds. The mix went well and the top of the oil burner furnace seemed like a good place to dry it out. Fortunately the quality wasn't too good as it only took out the casement window next to the furnace but it left a smelly dark cloud of sulfur stinking smoke in the basement that lasted for a week. My dad was a tad upset at us. It was not unusual, when he was talking to his friends, to hear my dad start out a sentence with "Let me tell you what those stupid kids of mine did last week....."

 

[Soundguy]

don't get me started on what me and my bro did as kids.

our dad just thought we found some big firecrackers...

the tree survived..t he burning was only superficial.. all i can say..

 

[Looking4new]

Out there in the great big world there is braided wire that comes with an aluminum braided shield. This wire has both black and white wire in it. I use the black wire direct to the + post of the battery and the white wire as well as the aluminum shielding to the ground post (-). These are all with their own soldered connectors on them. IF one should fail, maybe I will get lucky and the other one wont.

 

[Soundguy]

do lots of house wireing?