Sorry.....your last line slipped out of my head while I was typing so please disregard my cell phone comment.

Past that, I got nothin'.

I do not mean to sound like a smart ass but honestly, two cell phones on the same carrier (most allow unlimited talk to same carrier phones) would be the way to go for the most reliable.........and when you figure antennas, radios, coax, etc, probably by far the cheapest.

Do you have AT&T U-Verse?  

If so, try unplugging the 2WIRE 'gateway' and you will find that 160, the lower part of 80 and all of 40 will become usable again.  

Above about 8 megs, you will also loose the little spikes every 31 or 61 khz. up thru 2 meters.

The thing is a pure POS and of course AT&T will do NOTHING!!

For cryin' out loud!!!

If you have AT&T U-Verse and have noticed a S9 to 15 db/9 almost white noise from around 1.780 khz to 3.675 khz and again between 5.280 khz and 8.250 khz (all inclusive) be suspicious the U-Verse box.

I don't get on much so I was attributing my loss of 80 CW and all of 40 meters to the really crummy band conditions. The other night I heard a fellow on 2 FM mentioning what a garbage generator his U-Verse system was.  

I unplugged the thing and it all went away.  I should have suspected that anything that diabolical would most probably have AT&T behind it!  

I will be checking with wonderfull AT&T to see if they will fix the problem however, I suspect they will tell me to 'go pound sand....' but I will give them the chance before seeing if the FCC will enforce the part 15 "..may not cause harmfull interference to licensed services" stipulation.  .........and as a kid I wanted a pony for Christmass too, hi.

If you forget and leave them connected to the battery in the late evening or over night, a diode in series with one of the leads might not be a bad idea.   It will keep the panels from maybe showing a load and discharging the battery.

Believe it or not in theory a horizontal 'omni' is close to -3db compared to a half wave dipole.

A dipole radiates your 'X' number of watts in two directions (180 degrees).  The 'omni' is a dipole bent into a circle so it radiates fairly close to 360 degrees. Now the 180 degree radiation pattern has doubled. With the same number of watts now has twice the area to cover.   This is well covered by the old "there ain't no free lunch" axiom.

Stacking the loops will give close to 3db gain so you will about break even in all directions vs. what you would have in two directions with a dipole.

All in all it is probably worth it especially for local work; when 6 is open a wet noodle can do the job.

It's a misnomer but look for a 'microphonic' tube (by tapping on them with a pen or something).

OK guys and thanks.  I've been using the slide control all these years, I guess a few more won't hurt.   73, Bob

Thanks but I'm afraid it doesn't address what I am/was looking for.

I recall there was a mod for the built in Icom keyer where the speed control was moved from the mic. gain slide control to the squelch control.
 
I've checked all the usual internet places and can find nothing on it.  It must have been an old QST piece........any ideas on where I could find the skinny on doing this mod??

Thanks,
Bob

N4KZ....thank you for your informative reply.

I guess I didn't word my inquiry completely; my main interest was what type of mode/emission it was.  

From time to time I hear signals on the mid to lower section of 80 meters.

It is voice; sounds like non-english, non-amateur and they also sound like some kind of SSB.
Changing from LSB to USB makes no difference; they just will not tune in.

 

You didn't mention the power connection; if you're not using two wires directly to the battery terminals, that would be step one.

Does the noise only appear if the engine is running?   If it comes on when you turn the key on without the enging running there's a good chance it's the (usually) tank mounted fuel pump.

Search the Jeep recall sites, there may be some factory recommended (and paid for) fixes listed.

There are many Jeep vehicles used in public service and equiped with commercial radio equipment.  Perhaps a friendly two way shop guy could give you some additional suggestions.

"".. that we tend to chat on the call frequencies to try to stir up interest. There's nothing more boring than listening to a radio hiss at you for hours on end. Some will argue with me about this practice,..""

You can defend poor operating practices all you want but consider this, someone may not care to join in your QSO and have one of their own. (I'll bet you are thinking 'how could that be; could such an intellectually challenged individual exist'?)

Now, imagine if you will that two such people exist, one could call CQ but where? How 'bout on the calling frequency....that's where people listen, right?