[RFI] FORD Sport Track

[David Jordan]

Hi Fellas,

I've been mobiling with HF radio in the Ford truck for a few 
years...always had high noise from ignition system.

My daughter bought me 20ft of 1" braid for XMAS.  I covered all the 
spark wires with the braid (easy to run them through because of the 
large diameter). Ground all the braids at the ignitor. Strapped the ends 
on the plug side with wire wrap.

The ignition noise is completely supressed now. To make this 
determination I used a sniffer coax connected to the IC-746 mobile 
radio. Coax has about 6" of shield removed from the center conductor. I 
sniffed all around the engine after the shielding was installed and no 
more noise from the engine compartment.

As I made my way back towards the rear of the vehicle I picked up 
another strong source of noise that had been masked by the ignition 
noise. This RFI is coming from the fuel pump.  During the warrantee of 
the truck I had Ford install the mode to the fuel pump motor which 
requied they drop the fuel tank.  However, the noise is still there.

To remedy this problem I've installed an ANC-4 by JPS (product now sold 
by Timewave). This in line RF device works great to remove the fuel pump 
noise. When Spring comes I'll work on the fuel pump.

Having removed both sources of strong RFI the receiver is now very quiet 
for listening, while the engine is running.  However, when the truck is 
in motion there is a very strong signal coming the transaxel when the 
truck is in motion. I believe this is RFI from the ABS sensor on the 
rear end.

Has anyone got a fix for the noise from the ABS sensors?

The truck is so quiet when stopped that I can hear the RFI from the turn 
signals when they are activated an on 160m I can also now hear the 
parking lot AM radio station at National Airport which is about 6 miles 
away. Could never hear it before as it was burried in local RFI.

73,
dave
wa3gin