Mark -That is an excellent write up and the finished product looks great (factory)

 

Mark, that is the way we did my son's F350. Hardest part was getting the cowl off to drill the hole. Turned out well and he hasn't had any problems in 5 years.

 

In my best Crocodile Dundee accent:

"That's not an antenna.... THIS is an antenna!!!

 

Hey Joe,

I see you are a ham. Do you have any noise issues with your radio. I have a 857D that seems to pick up noise from the injectors. Haven't seemed to isolate it. Installed grounding straps and torroids all over the truck. Truck starting to get heavy Just wondering if you encountered this?
Mike
99 S.D.

 

like that idea thx for that

 

I'm running an IC-7000, and I get noise on two bands: 40m & 2m. Both are livable, but I will be re-routing power away from the PCM to see if that cures the noise on 2m. I'm 99% sure that's where it coming from because the noise stays when I turn off the key until I open the door and everything finally shuts down. On 40m, it's the injectors. Not sure what I can do about that yet. Haven't even thought about it, short of shielded wiring between the IDM & sticks. NOT a pleasant undertaking.

I have a couple more tricks up my sleeve though. I'm not a big fan of this guy, but I'm going to try his trick of grounding the cab & bed together to see what happens. He drives a 6.0, but I'm hoping it at least knocks some off the noise down on the 7.3. Have a look:
HF RF Noise mobile Powerstroke Diesel Ford

BTW, what's your call? I'm N3JI...

 

The best place to mount an antenna on your pickup is right on the center of your roof. This allows the antenna to use the entire vehicle in a balanced fashion for reception and transmission. Magnet mounted base loaded antennas which are usually 3' - 5' long are best for this and include everything you need (coax, antenna and mount). More information on best best places to mount on a pick-up below:

Wilson Antenna Tech support - Pick up Trucks

Dual antennas offer a number of benefits (stronger directional power, decreased reliance on ground plane for radiation, etc) but need to be spaced approximately 8-9 feet apart for optimal performance. While you can space them closer, you'll lose some of the benefit. See below for more details:

CHOOSING SINGLE OR CO-PHASE ANTENNA SYSTEM

I hope this helps! Best of luck with the new antenna......

 

Hey Joe,

I found this guys fix some months back. Tried them all but still got to much noise to operate on the HF bands while the truck is running..... The noise isn't bothersome on 2m but that might be due to FM. I'm still hoping someone has been able to find a workaround. Maybe my problem would be less if I had a ant setup like yours but it doesn't work for me when I load my camper onto the truck. I'm stuck with a mount on the front of the truck. I agree with your comment "unpleasant undertaking."

Mike
KI6LNC

 

I too have a K40 mounted directly on my roof right above my interior light. That way I din't need to remove my headliner. Here is my set up in my worktruck.

 

You in Cali? I'm headed to San Diego next week for work...

I would wager that since your antenna is up front, you're getting direct radiation from the IDM, wiring harness, and/or injectors. Mine is about as far away as it can be, and only 40 is bad (maybe S7-S9, but the digi NB takes a lot of it out). The 2m thing is a bit of a pain for me, since I run around ~10-20 miles from the repeater here in Dallas, and sometimes up to 80 or more miles out. I need to see if I can get that reduced.

If you're forced to use an antenna up front, I think you might be hosed, barring shielding or better grounding on the IDM. Have you tried that? I left the little grounding contact on my PCM when I put the chip in, but I've been thinking of adding a ground strap to it directly. When I had my Ranger, I grounded the engine on both sides, the exhaust in two places, and I had almost no noise when that was done. I also directly grounded the A/C blower motor since I had a huge amount of noise from it, and that took just about all of it out! Most of the fix for the engine noise was the tail pipe, which I did to this truck and it made very little difference. I think it did reduce the 40m noise some, but not much.

EDIT: Just thought of something: Try adding ground straps to the hood, fenders, and front clip. Tie all of those parts together with ground straps, then add several to the frame. See if that reduces it some. A buddy of mine did that with his F150 and really reduced his noise. He grounded all the body parts to the frame and together with multiple straps, including the doors. He may have gone a bit overboard, but you never know!! I'm willing to try anything!! I remember that my Ranger was quiet enough when I was done that I could hear passing cars that were noisy on HF. LOL

 

Nice setup! How did you secure the mounting brackets to the roof...self tappers? How long? I'd be afraid to poke a hole in the roof

Any advice appreciated

 

There was a false panel above the headliner that goes from the windshield bact to about the right side of the radio. I pop riveted an extension to go further back and pick up the linear and then I used 12-32 machine screrws to mount the radio and the linear to the extension.

I sid have to punch a 3/8" hole to mount the antenna though. The antenna has a good seal mechanism with it. It has never leaked and the antenna has a guick release 1/4 turn locking mechanism. Works great.

 

I went wit the dual antennas mounted to the front of the box. I am currently in Florida on spring break so I can't post pics but will Saturday morning. I love them there, gives me the clearance to pull into the garage.

 

Hey Joe,
I'm in northern ca. You mentioned IDM? Not sure where or what that is? Tried various grounding points but maybe I should try more spots.
Mike

 

Hey Fishernoiter have you checked out our Northern Ca. Forum!!!??? Tons of guys in your area im sure they would help you out!

Here's the link. just click the thread that says "Read First: How to join the Ca. Northern chapter!

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forum90/