Well half the battle is over. The rig is now getting noise free clean power. I added grounds to all body parts connecting them all to a central point under the hood. I add a chassis ground to the rig under the drivers seat. I used some belt dressing to tame the alternator whine. This got rid of some of the noise. Now I can hear what sounds like ignition noise being radiated into the antenna. I disconnected the antenna and rev'd the engine alittle. No noise at all nice and clean. Soon as I put the antenna back on the popping started again.

How do I get rid of this noise? Do I need to reposition the antenna?  The coax runs from the right rear of the truck to the rear passenger seat and then crosses the vehicle and goes up under the driver's seat to the rig.

Thanks for the help!! I am almost there.

The noise does happen when I am recieving "weak" signal. I would say S1 to S7 I recieve the popping noise.  If I sit a couple miles from a repeater and listen in it is clear as a bell.  I tried disconnecting the antenna, same noise. I tried listening for the fuel pump no noise there.

At my first attempt to install the rig I connected the radio to the trucks internal fuse box.  I jumped power from a 20A fuse and ran that to the radio. This was fine for listening, but after reading some posting and other mobile articles it was suggested that I wire directly to the battery for the power needed for transmission.  While wired to the fuse box the radio did not experience this noise.

From the info you guys have given me it sounds like it is coming from the ignition system.  I will try the in the dark trick and see if I can see any sparking.

Would it make sense to try grounding the rig inside the cab? Rather than running a ground all the way to the battery?

Thanks for all the help!!! I really appreciate it. I want to be clear as a bell once I get my license.

I am taking my Tech exam next week. So I got excited and decided to pickup my first rig and install it over the weekend. I decided on an ICOM-207H dualband.  I got the remote head wire and mounted the unit under the drivers seat, with the display to the left of the steering column. I also installed a Larsen glass mount dualband antenna.

I was worried about noise in the electrical system so I installed a RadioShack 20AMP noise filter on the power lead to the battery. I used 12 guage wire all around, ran both the (+) & (-) directly to the battery, grounded the ICOM chassis to the body, and double checked the trucks grounding.

So I fired up the radio on 2m to listen in. If I am getting a strong signal there is no noise and it is clear as a bell. As I started to scan through freqs I get a popping sound with a whinning sound in the background.  This noise gets softer and louder depending on how much gas I give the truck. If I turn the truck off and just listen in there is no noise at all.

Is this the fuel pump? Ignition? Should I ground the doors, exhaust, etc with wire?

Thanks for the help!