HAM Radio power hookup
I am in the middle of adding an HF radio and scanner to my 2m/440 setup. I will have all 3 on once in a while but will only transmit on 1 at a time. Right now I have 12g wire running from a 15amp circ...
Forum Discussion
WyoTraveler wrote:
First, you don't need a complete wire for ground unless you have a plastic chassis on your MH. You need a good ground to the chassis at the battery. Then you need a good chassis ground to the chassis at your transceiver. For the positive lead you need at least #10 wire. I'm running 100 watts with no problems. Just my humble opinion but I think the metal chassis on your MH is larger than any wire you could use to replace it. LOL. I just couldn't stop laughing at that previous post. A #10 wire to replace a metal chassis beam? Of course if you are running a full KW you will need something heavier for positive lead.
Actually, steel makes a TERRIBLE "conductor" of electricity when compared to copper wire.
Even though the steel beam or chassis of a vehicle contains a lot of steel it actually can cause a nasty problem called "ground loops".
In the audio world ground loops make for nasty hum and buzz noises.
In the RF world it can actually cause enough RFI to interfere with your cars on board computers (I remember a few years ago when a Ham friend installed a HF rig in a new vehicle, each time he keyed up the vehicle odometer GAINED mileage :E while sitting still and key off, took a while to figure out that they needed to run the radio ground directly to the battery).
To ensure I don't interfere with the on board systems I route the antenna and power as far away from any of the car wiring. I have also run my 12V wires at the back of each radio through a toroid ferrite core for good measure.
