I have a wouxun kg1000g+ with nagoya magnetic base and nl770g antenna. I have the radio wired directly to the battery and the mag base in the center of my roof. Receiving signals are fine. Transmitting people are saying i have alternator whine as they can hear when i rev up and down. Im moving the negative cable to the vehicle ground instead of the negative to see how that works. Is there anything else I can do? Im getting excellent range, i just want to stop this whine
I’ll check it out. Another question if you don’t mind. Does the radio itself need to be grounded? Negative wire is going to the vehicle ground but do I need to ground the radio mount as well? Currently my radio is on a rubber surface and not grounded. Not sure if I need to. Been reading about grounding loops and not sure if that’ll cause an issue
The negative supply cable goes to chassis, and if you are using a grounded to chassis antenna, then you have two paths already - making a third unnecessary. The only thing to think about is that the resistance of these paths will be different, so circulating currents are possible. Ground loops are usually the enemy of audio people where mains power is in use, and the difference in ground potential with multiple paths might make a few volts of AC quite common, and that is not good for audio circuits where hums are public enemy number 1. For radios, I’ve not come across this at all.
It sounds like what you’re describing is a whining sound that varies in pitch based on the RPM of the engine at any given moment.
Please remember that automobile alternators produce 3 phase ALTERNATING current, NOT Direct Current. The internal diodes output the DC required to operate the car. There are noise filters/ suppressors available to deal with alternator RFI.
Cars have capacitors already to suppress noise as well as spark plug wiring suppression. One or more could be defective.
Unfortunately, finding the source of the RFI can be frustrating.
Good Luck