SkylinesSuck

Sorry, the car stereo.

I noticed some constant noise breaking squelch on channel 17 with my old MXT275. Didn't think much of it. I recently swapped it out for a KG1000 and noticed it's receiving interference on several channels, worst on 17. It makes the rx light blink constantly without breaking squelch on some channels, and actually registers on the rx meter and breaks squelch on others. Strangely it even stops me from transmitting frequently, even though I have busy channel lockout disabled. I have narrowed it down to my double din wireless Android auto head unit. If I turn it off, interference disappears. Even when it's on but not putting out music, even with the sub off, even with the wifi turned off, it happens, even just in standby displaying the time. I have grounded the piss out of the KG1000 to the body AND frame. I have installed literally 20 snap of ferrite beads of varying sizes (got an assortment for cheap on Amazon) on both the KG1000 as well as the head unit. I have also bonded the hood, body, exhaust, and frame. This interference happens even just in accessory with the engine off. I ran power cables for the KG1000 directly to the battery through an open window just to trouble shoot. No change. Clearly the head unit is putting out some kind of interference. I double checked it's ground, but maybe it needs more? Any ideas? I'm not having his luck with my radios lately. At least I have good swr on this one lol (1.3).

Top of the mast, just before the connector to the antenna. They are inside the the mast along with the connector. Maybe that inch after the chokes but before the connector is doing it?

That is very similar to what I have on there now. 3 of them, right at the base of the antenna. I will eventually try pulling the cable away from the pole, but I will have to take the whole thing down, so I will try a few other things first, like bypassing the lightning arrestor. I'm not following the loop on thr cable thing.

Also, on the antenna, the Ed Fong is has 5.5 dbi gain. I moved from the copper J-pole because it was a unity gain as is the Browning. Not really trying to spend $600 on an antenna for the treehouse, but I am okay with more than $50 if you have any suggestions with some gain.

I forgot to mention I used the same snap on ferrite bead choke baluns (sp?) that were recommended for the original copper J-pole on the current Ed Fong. But on that note, I have the cable run inside the mast pole. Maybe not a good idea?

Gotcha. No guy wires at all which I will eventually rectify. The antenna basically only has the pvc pipe cap with the n connector in it inside the mast pole. The radiating part of the antenna is basically as far away from the mast as you can possibly get without adding additional pieces. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

I used the correct thin pvc he recommended. Guy it complete? I'm not tracking there, sorry.

And I never measured anything before I put it all the way up there. I see now that was a mistake.

Basically everything is new, yes. The antenna is on top of, not beside the metal pole. Sounds like there is no shortcut and I'm going to have to pull it all down and go piece by piece. SWR meter is a cheap little Surecomm 33 from amazon. Might try and bypass the lightening arrestor first too. LMR400 cable with no kinks btw.

Yep, I told him and it was labeled gmrs.

My old antenna setup was a copper J-pole on top of a 10' PVC pipe and a lightning arrestor with all UHF connectors. I recently changed that out for an Ed Fong DBJ -UHF with all N connectors on top of a 24' aluminum military surplus pole (the kind with 4' sections that link stack together). I am using an N connector lightening arrestor where it enters the wall to go inside the treehouse. The pole is electrically grounded at the base to a rod in the ground. With my previous setup I had 1.1 swr. Now it's 4.3. Taking the pole down is going to suck. Can somebody walk me through some trouble shooting steps? I don't even know where to start. The only idea I had is to replace the top pole section with a fiberglass one to get the metal pole farther from the antenna itself. Thoughts?

I meant for him to keep snippin a bit more to get it down under 1.5 if he could. I'm happy with mine---but my new 1/2 wave antenna arrives tomorrow anyways :-) Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

More of a general tech question, but should I be grounding the radio power at the battery or is a chassis ground sufficient?

Maybe a little more snip snip?

Enjoyed probably a few to many adult beverages last night and decided to knock this out in the wee hours. Paying for it this morning, and things aren't exactly how I wanted (crooked) but the KG1000 is in. I'm glad I didn't just cut a hole and and mount the CAT5 port for the mic without checking first. That cord would have been ripping leg hairs out non stop come shorts weather. Pretty happy with the location I decided upon. Might replace my tired CB and put the mic in that location as well. Now I just need to tidy up the cables a bit. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

644mm from where the whip disappears into the mount. Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Maybe I cut too much, but I just kept trimming until I got to 1.3. I'm playing in the garage right now. Lemme dig up a tape measure and I'll tell you what length it is now..... Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

Just curious, did you trim to get to 1.94 then keep trying and it didn't get better? Where did you mount it? Tail light?

Gotcha. I've spent many an evening hunting ELTs in the woods and even located a couple of aircraft crashes way back when I was in CAP.

And I'm jealous of the multi-Jeep stable ;-)

Just curious, what organisation do you do SAR through?

No, I don't think so. It's not an electrical ground. It needs a flat metal surface to "push" off of. Think like metal trash can lid with the antenna on the might or something. I just ordered the 1/2 wave antenna I mentioned above and I'll keep the same cable. Thanks guys! I am still curious to see if there is an NMO terminated cable stouter than RG58u out there if anybody comes across one.

Thanks for the input guys. I guess how thin that cable was scared me a little, especially stepping up from 15w to 50w. And for the antenna, no ground plane but if the difference isn't significant, I'm not worried about it. Perspective on how much improvement I would see if I upgraded those also was what I was looking for. Sounds like the difference wouldn't be huge?

I currently have a Midland MXT275 in my Jeep with a MXTA26 6db 5/8 wave antenna and MXTA24 NMO cable that is 6m long and a rather thin looking RG58u cable. I am swapping out the radio for a KG-1000 next week. I was wondering if upgrading either or both the cable to something thicker/shorter would be worth it as well as going to a 1/2 wave antenna such as the Larsen NMO450CHW. It's mounted above the rear tail light of my Jeep so no real ground plane to speak of and there are no other good alternative locations. I'm not opposed to getting cable and terminating the ends myself although I've never done it. Is all this worth it considering the short run?