On Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:54:59 -0700 (PDT), J. Heide wrote: >I oversee radio installations in patrol cars, and keeping he RF >where you want it is important.
Achieving That can be a VERY different matter at HF than at VHF, thanks to the wavelengths involved. The body of the vehicle is the other half of the antenna, so it carries a lot of RF current. Thanks to the excessive use of pain, the body of some (many?) modern vehicles has LOUSY electrical integrity, so at HF, that current establishes some rather substantial potential differences from one point on the body to another, which in turn can cause some very "interesting" results. At 100 watts on 20M, the computer in my Toyota Sequoia (big SUV) locked up thanks to that antenna current. On the other hand, once I bonded the license plate mount to the trunk lid of my Volvo S80 and bonded around the trunk hinges, I had no serious issues with that vehicle. I would expect a K3 to be a very good mobile rig once you work out a way to mount it. I've happily used a TS850, IC746, and Ten Tec Omni in various vehicles. I also used an FT100D, but the RX was so lousy I hated it. 73, Jim K9YC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
