On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:23:42 -0400, Mel Crichton wrote:
>Any HF RFI experiences or problems with Toyota 4 Runner or
Highlander? Honda Pilot? Subaru 4 cylinder Forester or Outback?
My experience with a Toyota Sequoia (BIG SUV) was very bad from an
RFI perspective. Mounted a hamstick on the luggage rack, with coax
bonded to the body at that point. Fired up the rig with 100W on
17M and the fan that blows air in the passenger compartment
speeded up. No big deal. 100 watts on 20M crashed the car's
computer, putting me in limp home mode, leaving me stranded in the
Nevada desert. Luckily I had tools, and got running by
disconnecting the battery to reboot the computer. I'm told that I
was lucky.
I don't spend enough time on trips to justify troubleshooting it,
and other things have been demanding my time (like antennas at a
new QTH, lots of writing projects, etc.). Prior to putting the rig
in the car, spent some time with an ohmeter studying chassis
bonding. The main thing I learned is that there isn't any -- way
too much paint between sections of the body. That's probably the
heart of the problem.
Design philosophy tends to run by brand, so my advice is that if
you care about HF mobile, stay away from Toyota. Fixing that bad
bonding would be a HUGE project. I think I heard that Honda was
good for RFI, but that was 4 years ago.
BTW -- I'm otherwise happy with the vehicle. 85,000 miles in 3 1/2
years, RFI is the only serious issue. Haven't even done a brake
job yet.
73,
Jim Brown K9YC
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
|