Batboard

If I use a Stinger Power Distribution Box and run the positive to my battery and the negatitive to the trunk will that eliminate the noise in my 2 meter radio that is currently wired to the fuse box, ground is hooked to a bolt near the fuse box. I have an ICOM 2 Meter, Motorola Spectra, and a Scanner. The only radio that I get noise on is the 2 meter.

Most likely, but there could be several factors.

First, I use a Stinger Digital fuse block. Some caution on use the digital fuseblock. There are two mounting bolts to mount the fuseblock to whatever you want to moun it to. Don't overtorque these bolts as you will flex the casing and the circuit card. If you torque too much, you may have one or more of the fuse positions that say you have a bad fuse and it will be difficult to seat the fuses. When you are seating the fuses, use your two thumbs and push down evenly on each side and centered in the fuse holder. Also check for tightness of the fuse holders on each side, give and extra little torque on each as they come from the factory. If you are not using the digital fuseblock, same rules apply to torqueing down/mounting the unit, it will be difficult to get the fuses in due to tight tolerances.

Run a 4 guage insulated cable from your battery. If your battery can accept the battery distribution connector, then put it on, if not, find a good connection on your battery. Use a ground distribution block for connecting your radio grounds. Most ground blocks are just like the power block, just not fused. Same thing, run a 4 guage to your ground (a good ground) and all your radio grounds in the other side of the block. The blocks should have 8 guage connectors/holes.

On your ground, make sure you have a very good connection. Scrape off any paint that may be around the hole. Check with an ohmeter after making the connection, you should not have any more that 200 milliohms. If it is uneven, try using Pentrox or other conductive mating paste. Run as short of a ground wire as possible from the ground block. My radio's are all remote mounted, the longest run from a drawer to the block is about 3 feet. The 4 guage to the chassis is less than a foot.

On your spectra, if you are running the ignition sense line to the ignition, make sure you have the right connection, i.e. that you are really on the igntion line and not something that just gets power when you turn on the key. I run mine directly to the battery, just because I have a diesel and I have to let the glow plug light go out and the radio wants to power on before the light goes out, so the ignition sense does me no good. I could try another line that goes upon engine start, but doesn't matter to me.

Also, if you still get engine or other noise, you could possibly have something riding the ground already, then you may have to do some noise isolators or find the source of the noise. But the way you have it connected is most likely your culprit.

I have absolutely no noise on my unit. I have a 110 Watt UHF MCS2000, 100 Watt VHF A7 Spectra, and a Kenwood dual band TM-D700A mounted. Soon I will have a Syntor X9000 Lowband with VRS mounted also.

dave

I'm not familiar with the Stinger. I have an ambulance with the Rf filtering and such. The only radio that gave me trouble was my Icom 2100h, had to use brute force filtering. I used 2 20 amp filter kits tandem and finally got it.



john

Thats exactly what I have, an ICOM 2100H 2 Meter Radio. Now what exactly did you do?

Better yet- voltage drop the ground under load and look for under 40mv from true ground to the dist. block. Next, do a drop between the dist. block and the battery negative- while under a load.
You'll probably need a bigger battery-to-chassis ground, as most OEM manufacturers use a #10 or #8 ground.

Yep...use #4 for hot and ground. Fuse or breaker the hot near the source of power. Use a 100A wafer fuse or a Buss/TST manual reset breaker. For corrosion protection, I coat everything with Permatex gasket spray (red) from any auto parts store. This spray stays soft after it dries and will totally seal out moisture. Two coats of this and you'll be good.

A loaded voltage drop will give you a more reliable indication of a connection versus using an ohmmeter. For a load, use something that will draw a good bit of current such as a carbon pile. If one isn't available, a large 12V motor, a lightbar with everything on or even an inverter with a load applied will load the circuit in a pinch.

If you still get noise, get out your DVOM and start searching different points for ground loops.

I was never a big fan of digital dist. blocks. These were made primarily for car stereo enthusiasts that want to add more blinky lights and such to their cars....although they do work. The phrase I coined for this is "technical masturbation."