I own a 2002 Ford F-150 4wd Crew Cab and it is pretty noisy.  I have added ferrite all over as well as braids to bind everything but with no success.  The electrical design makes elimination of noise pretty tough.  Luckily my rig's noise blanker does a good job.  Good luck!

Dennis, W5UV

A tuner with a screwdriver antenna? If you have to run a tuner with a screwdriver, you have problems!! Either the antenna will not resonate due to poor grounding or you need a new antenna. 73

Dennis

Look at Heil Sound's web site.  Bob sells an adapter that is used for his mics that takes the modular plug and converts to a round mic plug.  The cable model number is AD-100-8.  This might work for you.  73

Dennis

I agree with the last posting regarding the use of low loss feedline.  Although I didn't go the Heliax route, I did change to LMR-400 and the difference was huge!  I have seen an antenna on a house locally that appears to be a small multi-element Yagi on top of a discone type antenna.  I'm not sure if this is commercially available or if the user stacked these antenna's (perhaps he is using a coax switch to be able to hear a specific municipality versus hearing a broader range of signals).  In any case, it may be an idea you can employ - put the yagi in the direction you are having difficulty and use it when you want to listen to that area.  73's

Dennis

A friend of mine is trying to get his TS-570 up and running on PSK but can't get the rig to go into tranmsit.  He is using a Rascal from Buxcomm through the 13-pin din plug in the back.  Are there any adjustments needed or has anyone lese had this problem and solved it?  

Dennis

I recently sold my 706 Mk2G but used the Rascal with it as well.  I didn't change any of the radio settings versus what I ran in voice mode.  I had the narrow filter installed and if there was a lot of noise or nearby QRM, I would activate the filter but other than that, I changed nothing.  I changed power output via the soundcard/computer only.  Good luck!

Dennis, AG5Y

I used to use the Butternut HF-9V vertical and like you I was cramped for space on the radials.  I also tried the 300 ohm radial idea but my experience with them is that they did not work as well as making seperate wires cut for the bands you are working.  It's important to note that when you install a vertical close to the ground, the length of the radials is not important - the ground typically detunes the radials.  However, once you get above 8 or 10 feet above ground the length of the radials is more critical. Another thing that typically begins to happen in a poorly tuned vertical, the performance is so bad you don't see the mismatch in terms of SWR.  In fact, review some of the technical notes that Butternut publishes and you will find the better you tune the antenna, the more you begin to discover how much more tuning it needs! (Yogi Berra where are you??).  Right now the antenna is so inefficient, you can't see the problems - but your rig is!  Don't trust the meter until you improve the antenna and you begin to increase the rig's output.  If I were you, I would go back to traditional wire radials cut for the bands and frequencies you will be operating.  I think you will see a big difference.  73

Dennis

A friend of mine indicated someone on frequency told him that adding braid to your mobile whip (strip from RG-213 or LMR-400) will enhance performance.  Wondering if anyone has tried this before and has comments on the idea.  Thanks and 73's!

Dennis

I use the Clearspeech speaker with my Icom 756 ProII and I very much like the way the two combine together to produce cleaner sound.  I merely adjust the DSP level on the rig to create the best filtering and receive ratio.

Anyone know where one can buy heavy duty - well built 90 degree coax adapters?  Seems like the ones I can find are cheaply made and if you try to tighten them to where they will stay tight, they come apart.  Thanks and 73

Dennis

Hi Brandon.  I did the same thing and tried every trick in the book to eliminate or at least reduce the RF I had everywhere due to a poor rf ground.  I bought line isolators and MFJ's 931 Artificial Ground unit but the improvement was marginal.  It wasn't until I changed antennas (from a vertical to a folded dipole) did I finally beat the gremlins.  So my best advice to you is to consider the antenna in the equation and switch to one that is inherently low in rf problems.  I have come to the conclusion there is no way to get a good ground from the second story (or higher) of a house or building - so you adapt!!  Good luck

Dennis, AG5Y