acidchylde
06-26-2009, 03:14 AM
I'm just going to link to the gallery of images I put up instead of embedding them in the post. It's also going to have all the details. But here's the general story:
I got my Uniden Pro 520XL installed a couple of weeks ago with some help from my roommate. 'Installed' means power from battery into cab and antenna coax from bed mount into cab. I haven't stuck anything down yet because I can't decide on a good spot, but more importantly after I got everything in I discovered some engine noise issues I would like to get fixed before making things permanent.
Basic description: Power is pulled directly from the battery over 12 gauge wire, except the last little bit at the battery where I spliced in the inline fuse off the radio (which is whatever gauge that comes out of the radio - 16?). I put a ring terminal on the battery end and connected it to the convenient bolt on the top of the battery terminal. The ground I ran to the same bolt grounding the battery, again with a ring terminal. Power comes in through an existing hole in the firewall, wires end in a molex so I can move/relocate the radio easily.
Antenna (a 4' Firestik II) is mounted center on the front bed rail (right behind the cab) using the important half of a typical mirror mount. It comes down between cab and bed, goes in through an existing hole in the back of the cab that was enlarged a little to clear the connector. Coax is roughly 10' long total. The mount requires grounding since the bed is plastic and the rails don't contact any metal. I ran more 12 gauge wire (more on that in a minute) down to the frame - an unused nut that was welded on the rear cab mount. Paint was cleared off and it is a good connection.
All the pictures and slightly more details are located here (http://pics.livejournal.com/acidchylde/gallery/0001pkek).
The Problem:
Throughout the process I was checking grounds and it seemed like we were good everywhere. I went out the next day to a wide open area to tune the antenna with a SWR meter (cheapy from Radio Shack). I did it with the engine off and was able to get to about 1.4 on Ch 1 and 1.6 on Ch 40. Not ideal, but still pretty good.
Then I fired the truck up and got some horrible engine/ignition noise over the speaker. The popping/clicking is directly related to engine RPM, so I'm sure (insomuch as someone who doesn't know what the hell they're doing can be) it's the plugs firing. It took about a third squelch to get rid of it, and it was still in the background whenever receiving. Later that night I checked grounds again and got less than consistent results. My friend really trusts his meter, but I have a hard time believing that little section of wire between battery and fender ground has 6 Ohms of resistence. We did a quick test powering the radio with a cig adapter and he said that helped a little (I didn't hear the test as I was under the truck).
Also, I'm only testing electrical ground, not RF ground. A lot of people say you need a braided grounding strap to do it right, including the local CB shop, and that 12 gauge won't come close to cutting it. Except I was also under the impression you couldn't tune a badly grounded antenna, and my cheap meter says mine is tuned. What's weird to me is that I haven't done anything I haven't already seen someone else do, yet none of them reported any problems. Maybe they didn't think it was?
I'll also note that the following day on a trail run up in the hills the noise went significantly away until I got back down into town. During my intial tuning, I did not get a response to a radio check request on 19 a mile from the interstate, but that might have been nobody responding as likely as them not hearing me. On the trail people could hear me (don't know how well or if there was any noise on their end). At this point I'm still not sure if I have both a power and RF ground issue or just one or the other.
SO, I've got three thoughts on how to try and fix my noise problem.
1. Different ground for the radio - everything else seems to have its own ground, maybe that would help.
2. Braided grounding strap for the antenna. Except I can't find retail straps longer than a foot around here, so I have to find a place that sells it by the foot (I'll probably need about three).
3. Power filter for the line going to the radio. Likely cost me half as much as the radio did.
Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
And if you have any interest,
Radio Mounting locations:
http://pics.livejournal.com/acidchylde/pic/000hg3kk
Red: I'd lose the coin tray, but I don't use it anyway. The problem is to get it back deep enough I'd have to cut on not one but two panels (red x's), eliminating two of the holes for the tray clips. It's also all kinds of awkward angles and curves of plastic to deal with.
Green: I have it sitting here right now, but it needs securing. I can't cut into the back of the panel because there's a computer and/or duct right behind it. This means it pushes out over the cup holders more than I'd like. Can't really mount to the top of the space because of the cig outlets and odd curve to the panel.
Blue: At first this would have been ok - pull up the little rubber mat, cut a hole in the console underneath, and mount the radio vertically. It would fit such I could leave a lip to drop a rectangle of something over the hole, put the rubber mat back in, and you'd never know. Problem is that by the time you add the coax connection on the back the radio is sitting too high for me and could interfere with the shifter.
Yellow: Inside the console. Not really ideal for getting to the controls, but it does fit until you add in the coax again. There's space under the console I might be able to relieve that, but it still seems less than ideal.
I could also slap it on the passenger side of the hump, but it's kind of far away and it doesn't look very clean to me. So, still debating. First I just want it working cleanly.
I got my Uniden Pro 520XL installed a couple of weeks ago with some help from my roommate. 'Installed' means power from battery into cab and antenna coax from bed mount into cab. I haven't stuck anything down yet because I can't decide on a good spot, but more importantly after I got everything in I discovered some engine noise issues I would like to get fixed before making things permanent.
Basic description: Power is pulled directly from the battery over 12 gauge wire, except the last little bit at the battery where I spliced in the inline fuse off the radio (which is whatever gauge that comes out of the radio - 16?). I put a ring terminal on the battery end and connected it to the convenient bolt on the top of the battery terminal. The ground I ran to the same bolt grounding the battery, again with a ring terminal. Power comes in through an existing hole in the firewall, wires end in a molex so I can move/relocate the radio easily.
Antenna (a 4' Firestik II) is mounted center on the front bed rail (right behind the cab) using the important half of a typical mirror mount. It comes down between cab and bed, goes in through an existing hole in the back of the cab that was enlarged a little to clear the connector. Coax is roughly 10' long total. The mount requires grounding since the bed is plastic and the rails don't contact any metal. I ran more 12 gauge wire (more on that in a minute) down to the frame - an unused nut that was welded on the rear cab mount. Paint was cleared off and it is a good connection.
All the pictures and slightly more details are located here (http://pics.livejournal.com/acidchylde/gallery/0001pkek).
The Problem:
Throughout the process I was checking grounds and it seemed like we were good everywhere. I went out the next day to a wide open area to tune the antenna with a SWR meter (cheapy from Radio Shack). I did it with the engine off and was able to get to about 1.4 on Ch 1 and 1.6 on Ch 40. Not ideal, but still pretty good.
Then I fired the truck up and got some horrible engine/ignition noise over the speaker. The popping/clicking is directly related to engine RPM, so I'm sure (insomuch as someone who doesn't know what the hell they're doing can be) it's the plugs firing. It took about a third squelch to get rid of it, and it was still in the background whenever receiving. Later that night I checked grounds again and got less than consistent results. My friend really trusts his meter, but I have a hard time believing that little section of wire between battery and fender ground has 6 Ohms of resistence. We did a quick test powering the radio with a cig adapter and he said that helped a little (I didn't hear the test as I was under the truck).
Also, I'm only testing electrical ground, not RF ground. A lot of people say you need a braided grounding strap to do it right, including the local CB shop, and that 12 gauge won't come close to cutting it. Except I was also under the impression you couldn't tune a badly grounded antenna, and my cheap meter says mine is tuned. What's weird to me is that I haven't done anything I haven't already seen someone else do, yet none of them reported any problems. Maybe they didn't think it was?
I'll also note that the following day on a trail run up in the hills the noise went significantly away until I got back down into town. During my intial tuning, I did not get a response to a radio check request on 19 a mile from the interstate, but that might have been nobody responding as likely as them not hearing me. On the trail people could hear me (don't know how well or if there was any noise on their end). At this point I'm still not sure if I have both a power and RF ground issue or just one or the other.
SO, I've got three thoughts on how to try and fix my noise problem.
1. Different ground for the radio - everything else seems to have its own ground, maybe that would help.
2. Braided grounding strap for the antenna. Except I can't find retail straps longer than a foot around here, so I have to find a place that sells it by the foot (I'll probably need about three).
3. Power filter for the line going to the radio. Likely cost me half as much as the radio did.
Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
And if you have any interest,
Radio Mounting locations:
http://pics.livejournal.com/acidchylde/pic/000hg3kk
Red: I'd lose the coin tray, but I don't use it anyway. The problem is to get it back deep enough I'd have to cut on not one but two panels (red x's), eliminating two of the holes for the tray clips. It's also all kinds of awkward angles and curves of plastic to deal with.
Green: I have it sitting here right now, but it needs securing. I can't cut into the back of the panel because there's a computer and/or duct right behind it. This means it pushes out over the cup holders more than I'd like. Can't really mount to the top of the space because of the cig outlets and odd curve to the panel.
Blue: At first this would have been ok - pull up the little rubber mat, cut a hole in the console underneath, and mount the radio vertically. It would fit such I could leave a lip to drop a rectangle of something over the hole, put the rubber mat back in, and you'd never know. Problem is that by the time you add the coax connection on the back the radio is sitting too high for me and could interfere with the shifter.
Yellow: Inside the console. Not really ideal for getting to the controls, but it does fit until you add in the coax again. There's space under the console I might be able to relieve that, but it still seems less than ideal.
I could also slap it on the passenger side of the hump, but it's kind of far away and it doesn't look very clean to me. So, still debating. First I just want it working cleanly.