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[KE5MXA]

i have read about bonding the doors, hood, tank and such. But  I am driving a 2006 ford e150 and the cowl cover is fiberglass/ABS plastic. Can I line the inside with copper mesh and bond the mesh to the body to help keep the ignition/EFI noise out? Or is it even worth the trouble?
Thanks,
Shawn
KE5MXA

[K0BG]

You could, but it probably isn't worth the trouble. I certainly wouldn't unless the ignition RFI is out of sight. Although COP units can be noisy, Ford's design is better than most RFI wise.

The most important part, RFI egress wise, is the exhaust system.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[NK5G]

If your vehicle is all metal I would not worry about bonding. I don't think you will see much difference. I bonded to the two rear quarter panels to the antenna base (shield), but saw no chance in resonnace, pattern, or noise. Working all kinds of DX regardless.

Ferrite chokes on the power cable at the battery and at the radio end took care of some noise that I had, but I had little to begin with.

[K0BG]

Steve, how well bonding works or doesn't work, can't be decided with just a couple of bonds. While it is true that unibodies vehicles require less bonding than body on frame ones, there is no doubt about the effectiveness. The fact the body is made of metal has almost no bearing.

Horizontal surfaces are most important, although bonding vertical surfaces does help. If you were going to bond just one item, it would be the exhaust system.

Alan, KØBG
www.k0bg.com

[N4BFD]

For noise reduction?  re exhaust
I worked on bonding my 2008 F150 over the weekend, it has terrible noise on 20 and 80m.  Bonded the hood, front doors, cab, and bed, and one strap on the exhaust.  Ran out of flat braid so I'll order more tomorrow to finish the job.  

I did have S9 Plus noise on 20m but what little I did, which was about 30 minutes of work cut it back to S6-4 with the noise blanker taking it much further down.  On 80m the noise blanker completely kills the noise after bonding.  

I am hoping that after I add a few straps to the exhaust up near the engine it will quiet things down a bit more. I need to add a couple more straps to the cab to frame and cab to bed as well.

F150s are terrible.  Engine is a 4.6l  Very reliable but horrible on HF and VHF for noise.

[AC2RC]

With my 2003 F-150 I was getting lots of noise ,all from the coil pack. Full bonding couldn't help so I installed a clear speech unit for my 706. The DSP in the 7000 takes care of the noise very well !

[N4BFD]

How does the IC 7000 handle powerline noise, honestly I have more trouble with that when mobile than I do with the noise from the Ford.  

Bonding did help a lot in my case, I've added more this week and there much improvement.  I am going after the coil packs next.