routine MOBILE radio maintenence

[ai4ep]

Every mobile installation needs maintenance. The radio leads going to the battery needs cleaning every month or so ( depending on your climate ). Clean the connections where the radio wires hook up to the battery. #Check the wires going through the firewall for scuffed or frayed areas. Check the connection at the BACK of the radio itself. #Then go for the antenna. Check the coax from the radio (s ) all the way to the antenna (s ). Check the connection of the antenna to the vehicle. If it does not suit your looks ( rust, corrossion, etc ) replace it with another antenna like you have, or try a different type that you have seen/heard/read about. #Your antenna is problably more important than the radio #itself. You can take the best radio on the market, and with a bad/lousy/crummy antenna, NO one will hear you. I hear so many folks on vhf/uhf with scratchy signals, since they possibly have NOT maintained their radio power connections or the antenna since the day it was all hooked up ( some time back in the 20 th century ), yet they wonder WHY they can not work simplex more than a few miles or get into that repeater that is only 15 - 20 miles away without sounding "scratchy and broken up ". **of course, it is ALWAYS the repeater, never any thing else ! **. . Take a half hour and check out YOUR mobile system this weekend, from the battery connections, check the connections to that "remote mount unit " with the display near the drivers seat, and the main unit mounted some where else, check all the wiring and connections of every part...even the microphone being plugged firmly into the unit. (( of course it IS your system, if you desire to sound "scratchy and distorted, and breaking-up ", then leave it all just as it is, it will NOT fix itself. )) # kd4amg

[wb6bcn]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">(( of course it IS your system, if you desire to sound &quot;scratchy and distorted, and breaking-up &quot;, then leave it all just as it is, it will NOT fix itself. )) # kd4amg [/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>

Let's not forget, # if you have a high enough swr, # most newer radios will drop your output power to protect the radio. Rain and a bad gasket on roof mount antennae make for the possibility of bad contact or even a carbon trail in the antenna base to chassis ground. #You should check any gaskets and/or &quot;O&quot; rings used in an antenna system.

But again, you can ignore it, #The antenna once installed never goes bad!!??

[kf4lne]

Don't forget to check out the RJ45 connectors on those rigs that use such mic connectors. They do loose their springiness over time and it doesent hurt to replace it every few months or so. Also check out the seal on your trunk and door where coax runs through, scratchy signal is far more acceptable than wet carpet and rust hole in the floor pan. And for those &quot;real hams&quot; who drill holes in the roof/trunk lid/bumper/hood take the antenna off sometime and clean the rust off, put some rust sealant on it and find a more suitable location to ground the antenna so the car doesent rust out around that nice, shiney mega-multibander. And take the whip loose from the base and clean the corrosion out from the hole where the whip goes in.

[kf4lne]

Actually I let someone else do the lighting inspections for me, thats why I have my call sign tag and a frequency i monitor on the back of my car http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif when I have lights out some concerned ham always lets me know!

[N2NKW]

Hey I see this just in time. I just bought a ic706mkIIg and a HS1800DX screwdriver antenna. lots of good advice given. most of it i already knew of course but it never hurts to put up a reminder for those of us who get lax in our comfort. Look foreward to seeing some of you on the bands.

73 de N2NKW-Brian