HF static

Hi Wayne

Earthing of the Autotuner and the Radio is critical with HF. It would pay to run quite a heavy earth wire from the autotuner to the chassis. Also the Radio should be earthed from the earth screw on the back to the Chassis as well.

HF radio does have quite alot of static and it get worse depending on conditions.

Also remember the higher the sun the higher the frequency you should be using. Is the static the same on all on the VKS737 frequencies?

Have you called in to the Base stations during the skeds to see if they are coping you.

Does the static increase when you ahev the engine running or the fridge has switched on?

Have fun

Regards Ray V2010

Wayne - manuals for such hardware always have detailed advice on installation - sounds like you may not have that paperwork - as Ray says, efficient earthing of all components is a must - you can't rely on the rear door hinges etc. Power supply issues are critical too - lot of power consumed when transmitting. Are you with an HF network ? You could arrange to comm with bases etc to give the unit a good test run.

Hi Wayne.
RF earthing is very important. Earth direct to the chassis, a broad flat strap type cable is best - jumper lead type cable will also work. It is best if the top of the auto tune antenna is about level with the roof, this leaves the whip - which radiates the signal - in the clear.
Is the antenna the 9350? If so, this has a built in preamp that works well on receive only frequencies.
The radio should also have a good RF earth fitted to it.
Try also tuning into other HF services suck as short wave services and the like.
HF daytime conditions are not brilliant at the moment.
You should be able to hear amateur HF activity on 40 metres (7MHz) in the mornings and in particularly in the early evening - Try 7.050 to 7.100 LSB.
Short wave AM signals on 40 metres - 7.1MHz and above should be quite strong at night.
Also 80 metres (3.5MHz) after about 7.00pm.
Note that you will have to have the LSB crystal fitted to receive the LSB signals & the eprom must be programmed for LSB & USB (I think). So, this may not be an option for you?
At the onset of sunset (& also sunrise although that is quite early at the moment) you may be able to hear a peak in weak overseas stations working a path of propagation called the grey line.
On the onset of night time, longer distance propagation will occur. This is due to the breakdown of the ionospheric "D" layer - which is generated by the sun and which blocks frequencies below 10MHz. This allows propagation via the higher "F" layer.

If you wish a sked for testing etc, give me a call via email.
Just a note on transmitting. The output signal can be distorted (FMing) if the battery volts are low. This can be a problem if the fridge kicks in etc. Often best to turn the motor on.

vk3cat@qsl.net

Cheers Tony, VK3CAT

Wayne
I have installed dozens of HF's in 4wd's, several in my own troopies over the years.
If you don't have the Codan installation manual see if you can get one as it has several good tips.
My troopy was electrically virtually totally silent after I did the same to it as the police do to there vehicles fitted with HF's.
As has been said earthing of components is paramount, remove bolts holding bullbar, towbar etc, remove paint to shiny metal, fit grounding straps, then repaint/spray whatever to stop corrosion.
Even if the item such as a towbarisn't involved in the install it will still generate static electricity when driving down the road due to airflow if not well grounded to the rest of the vehicle.
Fit copper braid straps across ALL door hinges, bonnet and exhaust system, the latter at the rear, fit it around the rubber block at the back, again remove paint to ensure good connections.
Basic things to pay attention to as detailed in the manual are: don't run power cables alongside control cables (antenna and remote head) or antenna coax, I used to run power down one side of the vehicle and control cables down the other.
Preferably fit the HF to the main battery as when camped the aux battery is usually drained due to frig and lights and even a volt or so will affect antenna tuning efficiency. Even talking on the hf for several hours you won't drain the battery enough to affect starting. When the HF is just listening the battery drain is negligable.
Re the antenna, if you have the black parallel sided job start saving for a new one as they will fail, the most reliable were the earliest rough fibreglass ones, parts are virtually non existant for them these days. The later versions of the tapered antennas seem to be ok.
None of the auto antennas like being mounted beside a steel belted radial spare tyre, you have a coil of wire electically isolated from the vehicle which badly affects the antenna tuning and operation (reception and transmission)
On the troopy various things will cause interference, the biggest is the sender for the oil pressure gauge, soldering a 1.5uf capacitor between the centre terminal and the metal case should stop most of it, the fan motor and windscreen wiper motors both cause noise, some later models the dash instruments cause probs (probably the voltage regulator for the dash). The HF may also pick up the CPU in GPS's, laptops and anything else that has a chip in it, they have a very sensitive receiver. Fluoro lights will also play havoc with reception, not just yours but anyone elses nearby.
Your HF will probably interfere with other electrical appliances in the car too.
My UHF CB stops on certain channels when in scan if the HF is on.
Other vehicles may be affected by RF from your antenna if you transmit too. My favourite used to be a mates early V6 Pajero, we could be side by side at the lights, on the green he would start to pull away from the diesel troopy, I'd tune the antenna on 11 megs as he got level with the bullbar and antenna and his engine would miss, die, and nearly cut out, he'd get the bleep s as the troopy beat him to the punch!
When we had an incoming selcall we had a routine to turn everything off and pull over and stop the engine to minimise reception problems.
Also forget about using your HF if within close proximity to a TD5 landy, the noise from the electronic injection overloads the receiver!
Any questions give me a yell.
The 8528 is one of the best and simplest radios to have, very easy to use and very reliable, keep the sun and UV off the front panel on either transmitter or remote head as that is the weak point and there are no new spares available.

Hi Wayne
A silly question, but have you used HF before as the noise level on it compared to UHF is terrible.

Also I use a Barrett and have turned the Noise Blanker on (NB) which reduces some of the noise.

The fact that the engine is off and no fridge may mean that it is just the conditions at the moment on HF which are terrible.

Is the noise level different on each of the VKS channels

Regards Ray
VK3CRK V2010

Another tip male sure that your earth is SOLDERED.

Hi Wayne,

Lots of good advice here. I've had about 5 codans over past years and those included an 8528. They are a good rig.

Don't worry about the TX light. It shouldn't come on when you push PTT.

In a way it is a transmitted signal strength indicator. Because you are operating on a side band it doesn't light until audio is transmitted and then it will flicker with the strength of the audio.

If you transmit and talk does it light? The level will vary with voice volume.

It will also flicker with the tune operation.

The antenna relies on a transmission to tune as it is seeking best VSWR. If the radio wasn't transmitting at all it wouldn't tune.

Do you know anyone else you can have a listen to their set. Static is normal and on some days the conditions will give you heaps of it and others it will be quiet as a mouse.

Built up areas are worse for HF noise also.

An old hands tip. When conditions are bad and received audio is well down in the static turn the volume down low and get your good ear close to the speaker. Audio pulls through the static better at low volumes. That's why my speaker is mounted up above the door frame above the rear door drivers side.

Earth, earth, earth is important too. Follow some of the previous posts tips. My 8558 wouldn't tune reliably until I bared the metal under it's seating ring around the mounting bolt. These days I have an NGT & 9350 but the same rules still apply even though I have the advantage of being able to turn noise filters on that weren't in the earlier sets.

My 8528 served me well from the high country for quite a while. I'm sure yours will too.

The Codan_outback_radio group on yahoo groups is worth joining too. Plenty of this sort of stuff in their archives.

Dave