Although the rigs I drove were not as new as the one you're driving, they did have the 'radome' for fleet tracking.  I tried fashioning a bracket that clamped under the radome and that extended outward (backward) about a foot.  I mounted the antenna I had on that and had good luck with it.  

Sometimes, if you get friendly with the fleet mechanics at your 'home' yard, they can either fabricate something for you or put it on if you do the fabrication, saving you the possible 'infraction' of tampering with the company mounted equipment.  Good luck!

There is one BIG advantage of the N connector over the PL 259--the impedance characteristics.

The PL 259, where used, puts an impedance 'bump' into the RF pathway, the N connector does not.  A properly installed N connector has a 50 ohm impedance right on through the connectors unlike a PL-SO 259 connection.  That bump, or difference in impedance means next to nothing at HF frequencies and even VHF frequencies, but when you get up into the UHF and above ranges, that bump is very troublesome.

PL 259s are fine for what they're intended for, UHF and EHF is not what they were intended for, however.  

Checking the connections would also be my first choice.  BUT--be very careful cranking down the terminal connectors, you may either crush them down too much and cause damage to the wires (partially cutting them maybe) or you may touch something you will wish you hadn't!  If you touch the main connection, remember there is NO fuse between it and the outside utility pole connections.  For heaven sake, shut the main breaker off--and still treat the connections as though they were live!

The other thing I would check is the ground connections, make sure the ground is an actual ground (not a ground to a water pipe that turns into plastic) and that the ground wire is securely connected.  A loose ground connection can cause a lot of problems, including burned and or blown appliances, and cause a lot of noise.  While you're at it and if you can,have the power company check all connections from the pole to your meter socket (and beyond, right to the main breaker if they will).

I had that done when I had noise problems.  The power company found a bad ground connection at the pole.  The ground at the panel wasn't too good either although it did work.  I was asked if I had any damage to my electrical appliances in the past.  I had, a calrod unit on my stove had blown, and I was told the bad ground connection was most likely the culprit.

Let me tell you, I made sure I had a good ground connection at the panel from that time forward.......

If it has an onboard receiver, you may have to do a major modification to it.  You would need the schematic to actually be able to begin to try.  Also, the antenna array has to be specially redone--unless the frequency it now operates on is close to the two meter band.

Most of todays sniffer kits use an outside receiver, not one built in to the unit, although there are exceptions.

Whoa there, don't throw in the towel--get on that rig and get on the air!  First, grounds for antenna systems are not absolutely necessary, especially if your antennas are indoors.  Second, being on the second floor, you are more likely to give yourself more problems than you would solve if you did run a wire down to a ground stake.  

I have a second antenna for a two meter rig set up on a small support--I use it as needed, and IT HAS NO GROUND, just the ground plane built onto the antenna base.  It works just fine the way it is.  Mobile rigs aren't grounded, they work just fine too.

What kind of antenna are you running?  A j-pole needs no ground.  The dipole is a balanced antenna, it needs no ground.  If you have a quarter wave whip in the attic, it needs a ground plane, that is three or four radials equidistant from each other set out at about a one hundred and ten degree angle from the upright whip, but not a ground.

As you can see, a ground is just not a necessary connection to have to set up your station.  So, get on the air and start having fun!  73 and good luck.

Depending on the sensitivity of the scanner, if you try to connect it to the same cable/antenna as a transmitter, you risk overloading and frying the front end of the scanner.  It makes no difference if you use a switch or a diode blocker or any other method of connecting them both to the same antenna.  If something were to go wrong or if you just plain got unlucky, there goes your scanner!

If I had an expensive scanner I'd be even more nervous about it.  Bite the bullit and make another antenna for use with your scanner.  Get some wire and just string it up where it won't be bothered.  Receiving antennas don't have to be matched and tuned like transmitting antennas do.  My scanner antenna is a six or seven foot piece of wire run from one ceiling corner of my shack to another, and it still pulls in signals from just about anywhere I want to listen to.  The scanner doesn't do any better connected to an outside antenna either.  

You don't have to be fancy when constructing a receiving antenna.  Look at some of the old clunkers on the road--even a coathanger does the job!

One other thing--for maximum protection and energy dissipation, if you are using 8 foot rods, drive them into the ground 16 feet apart.  Looking at the cost of #6 copper cable, you see why not many people do their ground system using multiple rods unless they have a tower.

Do a forum search on 'grounding'.  Look at the top right hand side of the Elmers forum page, you'll see a box marked "Search Elmer" up there.

There has been so much discussion about this topic in the 'Elmers' forum that maybe another forum just for grounding could be started.

Connect all your rods together with number 6 copper cable, then connect your shack ground to one of the rods.  Bonding (welding) the cables to the rods is best, but if you have to you can use clamps.  If you do, be sure to check the clamps every couple of months to be sure they're tight and corrosion free.

One club I used to belong to (!) ran a raffle every year.  They bought electronic equipment--not necessarily ham radio equipment--or had equipment donated and then sold raffle tickets.  One ticket for three dollars or ten tickets for ten dollars.  (You gotta keep track.)  

The tickets went on sale in the beginning of June and the raffle was held in late August.  A month and a half was plenty of time to sell a bunch of tickets--more than enough to cover the raffle expenses.

One other thing, do NOT make it necessary to be at the raffle to win, you will sell more tickets that way.  Be sure to provide space for the buyers identification on the ticket stub that you keep for the raffle.  If the ticket buyer isn't a ham operator, you've got a good candidate for a new licensee if they win ham equipment.

This idea consistently generated about $400-500 dollars per year for the club.

Jason, KF6PQT,

I'd be very careful if I were you.  Your ground may 'reverse' and cause an electrocution hazard.  If the third 'ground' wire of your air conditioner cord or the ground wire on that circuit become disconnected and the air conditioner short out, you may have 110 volts on the chassis of your rig!

Granted, its a long shot, but your 'safety' ground should have the effect of making your station safer, not make it a potential hazard!  You would be better off with no ground.

WB6BYU said:

".....At even multiples of 1/4 wavelength
the jumper cable won't transform the impedance at all, so the SWR will still be 1 : 1 if that is what it was to start.

I wouldn't consider that to be "going crazy"."

Yes, you're right--and I didn't express myself clearly.  Thanks for bringing it up.  I should have said the SWR >meter may< go crazy.  What I meant was the less expensive meters may give different readings if different jumpers are used, just as the in rig meter may not give the correct SWR.  I stand corrected.  

Don't worry about RF exposure on HF bands.  The wavelength is so large that it isn't a problem--the only thing that may be is if someone touched the antenna (I believe metal antennas only, not the fibreglass or plastic covered ones) while you keyed down with a high wattage output--that is likely to produce RF burn if conditions are right, such as touching the antenna while your other hand or your body was touching the body of the vehicle.

Actual RF hazards occur in the high power high frequency UHF bands--the microwave portions to be exact.  The RF energy heats moisture just like a microwave oven heats water.  A microwave oven concentrates energy in one place, a radio antenna spreads its energy out over a wide area.  Unless you're running high power on those bands, there is no actual hazard.  The FCC mandated safety limits were set to insure no one gets hurt at all.

I'd place your HF antenna on the vehicle at the point it would give you the best coverage even if that position is at the back of the cab on the lid of a toolbox.

If converting from a 120 V outlet to a 240 V outlet, I'd be very, VERY careful.  I'd want to be ABSOLUTELY sure the line to that outlet was a dedicated line. The best way to do that is to run a NEW line, not at all an easy task if you have a finished basement, a slab type house, or have your shack on the second floor, but necessary if you cannot insure by looking and physically checking that the line goes directly to that box and nowhere else.  

Just stop and think--if that 'dedicated' line has a branch off it or another outlet on it before your shack, anything plugged into that outlet or on the branch will go POW when it's switched on.  Would you want that happening to your spouse, your friend, or especially your children?  I didn't think so.

You'll just skew your SWR a bit--the rig may fold power back a bit, but the 59 is useable for making jumpers--short ones--for HF use.  The point to worry about it is when you start using those jumpers for the higher frequencies, VHF and UHF.  Then it may become a larger problem, you start getting down to the wavelength of the frequency, or double or triple--equaling the length of the jumpers and wow, the SWR goes crazy.  On HF, maybe a SWR 'bump', but no big problem.

Full privileges means just that.  Even if you didn't pass the code test you can attempt code on 2 meters and 6 meters--as long as you have a tech license.

That is where a lot of Techs practice their code, both sending and receiving.  Higher class licensees tend to ignore the frequencies above 50 mhz anyway, but you'll sometimes find them there--the ones that want to help others get their upgrades, anyway.