noise

[nightwatcher]

I posted this somewhere else, but thought I would give it a try here as well....sorry for the double post. Okay, I ran my power wire to the battery and ran my ground to a nice shiny bolt on my chassis. however, I still get tons of ignition noise when I start my tuck and accelerate. I am forced to adjust with the RF and squelch knobs. It is a 1994 Chevrolet Silverado with a fuel injected 305. Any suggestions? Thanks

[38Special]

Are your engine grounds in place????
There should be engine to frame on the right side of engine.
There should be engine to cab on the right rear of engine.
And while your at it there should be bed to frame I believe in the left bed wheel well.
Is your antenna grounded???
Is your radio grounded???

[QuickSilver 112]

If you cant get the noise out u can buy a filter cord u can get them here [Please login or register to view this link]

[Idaho Annie]

I had the exact problem when we installed my Uniden...nothing worked until we ran the wire right to the battery...then all ignition noise went away.....I figured it was because my Toyota Rav4 is all plastic, heh....

Annie

[QuickSilver 112]

yup noise the cb worst enemy I live on a farm and that darn electric fence gets on my nervs click click click click click click click lol

[Loudmouth]

Like Annie said ... run that neg wire directly to the neg battery post and try that.

btw - which radio is giving you the noise? Some are more prone to it than others.

LM

[nightwatcher]

the radio is a cobra 29 stwx and i have several filters in line on the positive side already

[Zumlin]

Engine noise is a pain...I added braided straps before and after my catalytic / sensors, also straps from frame to body.
In line 20 amp noise filter to the radio...
Found that spraying my alternator w/ CRC electrical contact cleaner helped some also....dirty brushes??

Still get noise, the antenna is picking it up, but my northpoint can cut it out with the ANL/NB barely hear it, I think the rest is from the Injectors, I read about a way to try to get rid of it but it involved wrapping each injector and grounding it.

[nightwatcher]

I'm about ready to give up and accept the noise as it is. I ran my neg wire directly to the battery. I have slightly less ignition noise, but still have it. Any other ideas. I have not had this problem in my other vehicles. I was considering getting a heavy duty lighter plug and trying to go that route, with a noise filter. Is there any chance the noise is coming through the antenna/coax system? thanks everyone!

[Loudmouth]

You can disconnect the coax from the radio and see if you still have engine noise .. BUT DON'T KEY THE MIKE!! when the antenna is not attached.

If the engine whine goes away with the coax disconnected to the radio, then it's coming through the coax/antenna. You'll need to double check your coax to make sure it's good, and double check the ground on your antenna.

[Idaho Annie]

Why can't you key the mic without the antenna attached?

Annie

[Loudmouth]

Why can't you key the mic without the antenna attached?

Annie

If you don't have a load (the antenna) then you'll blow the finals right out of your radio.

LM

[Shaft]

Why can't you key the mic without the antenna attached?

Annie

If you don't have a load (the antenna) then you'll blow the finals right out of your radio.

LM

It's like full throttling an engine without the transmission engaged. It needs that resistance to function right. Without transferring power to the wheels the engine would red line and burn up.

[Loudmouth]

Right .... or another analogy would be ... say you had a 5.0 SWR reading .. and keyed up to chat anyway .... POP goes the finals!!

LM

[38Special]

nightwatcher.
You never mentioned what kind of antenna you are running, but here's a few ideas.
I have a 96 Silverado and no noise running a K30 magnetic mount antenna. The original coax on the antenna was the cheap stuff, and it was noisy all the time, and well worn. I replaced the coax with Ken's mini8X and used a good Amphenol connector, not the crimp on crap. My radio is grounded, my antenna is grounded, and my amp is grounded. Did you check you engine bonding straps? Obviously there is something wrong as I get virtually "zero" noise in my Chevy.

[nightwatcher]

I am running good coax and a good mount on the stake hole of my bed. The antenna is a 64" radioshack whip [Please login or register to view this link] Type/CB&fbc=1&parentPage=family

As far as grounding, I do not have the radio itself grounded anywhere, but the antenna is grounded well.

[38Special]

OK, that should work fine.
But have you checked the bonding wire on the bed??? If it's missing, broken, or corroded it will act just like there is no ground at all. Chevrolet mounts the beds on rubber pads, and the bed bolts are not a reliable source for ground. Essentially if your ground is not good on your bed, then your antenna ground means nothing. I can't help you any further until you start checking these things and letting us know where your at.
And an FYI (and I'm not trying to upset you) not all antennas have good coax (even though it's brand new). You should maybe make a post under antenna's asking if anyone else has had noise issues with that particular antenna.

[38Special]

Ground the radio

[nightwatcher]

here is where I am now. With the coax unplugged from the back of the radio and the truck on...there is virtually No noise at all. The coax itself is in good shape. The ground straps that run from the bed to the frame and from the engine compartment to the frame are all in good shape. However, as soon as I plug the coax back into the back of the radio the noise returns (when the truck is running) It does get worse as i accelerate.

38 Special, does your 96 silverado have the vortec or the plain 5.0/305

another issue that i have discovered is that my swr's are way too high, which **Censored** me off considering I had the local CB shop set them( and were paid to do so) .

would replacing the antenna help? what about changing the mount? this is my current mount [Please login or register to view this link]

I am digging through my box of antennas and looking to see what else i have.

any more ideas?

thanks, and let me know if you need anymore info!

[Loudmouth]

That looks like a good mount, but to be honest with you, that's probably not the greatest antenna. I am not familiar with the Radio Shack antennas but for $25 I am only assuming it's probably got cheap coax, which could be your problem. Or at least part of it. Your SWRs being off won't help matters either.

If you can afford it, I'd buy a better antenna. The Wilson 1000 or 5000, and/or the Predator 10K are great antennas. One will cost you about $65-$75 I think.

Just my 2 cents ....
LM

[nightwatcher]

I'm pretty sure the coax is good..i bought the mount, and coax together, and the antenna comes just as that, an antenna...no coax or anything else

[nightwatcher]

really getting frustrated now...i cant get the swr's down no matter what i do or which antenna i try. I have tried several different whip antennas and several good fiberglass one.

is there enough ground plane on the bed rails to successfully run a Wilson 1000? That is an option as of right now

is it possible that the radio itself has a problem?

[38Special]

My 96 has the Vortec 5.0 (305ci) with fuel injection. Same truck, differnt front grill.

Your SWR is running what????

Try this....

Up under your dash you should have a 1.5" metel tube that runs from the drivers side to passengers side. You should be able to see it easily looking up under the dash. Take a nice piece of heavy C O P P E R wire, strip about an inch of insulation and secure it to this tube using a radiator hose clamp (this tube is a super ground!) (2" hose clamp). Take the other end and secure it to the pl259 antenna connector on the back of your radio using a smaller hose clamp, and strip the insulation in a similar way. Make this wire NO LONGER than necessary, and secure the clamps tightly. And don't use any shoddy chicken wire!!! This does 2 things, grounds the radio, and the antenna through the cab, not the bed. Check you SWR and let us know what you get.

Your radio sounds like it's working... All the symtoms you describe are of a bad ground.
A new mount won't help. Try the set up above and let me know what you get, or if your SWR changed, which way did it go.

The Wilson's are super antenna's, I have 1 on my Blazer. On my Silerado I have a k30 on the roof. Both trucks are essentially 1:1 on the meter.
TJ

[nightwatcher]

thank you all for the awesome advice. I finally got this particular truck set up the way i want it. I grounded the radio on the inside, ran a different line to the battery for both pos (+) and neg (-). I could not get any antenna to work with the mounts that I had. I took all the old mounting crap and coax off. I installed a new Wilson 1000 mag mount antenna. The antenna tuned to about 1.2 flat across all 40 channels. I also installed a noise clipper in-line on the coax by the radio. I have awesome receive and can get OUT! thanks everyone for helping me out.

[4600 Turbo]

Right .... or another analogy would be ... say you had a 5.0 SWR reading .. and keyed up to chat anyway .... POP goes the finals!!

LM

just a Myth. according to Lou Franklin author of "The Screwdrivers Expert's Guide".

So is key with the antenna disconnected.