[VHFcontesting] Inverters and roving

[k4gun at comcast.net]

Well, my new rover system is just about complete.  I posted some pics on QRZ if you're interested:  http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=163565

I've run into a problem though.  I decided to spend the money and get a pure sine wave inverter.  Based on opinions here and elsewhere, I figured this caused the least amount of noise.  I also mounted it in the steel toolbox and attached a couple of ferrite beads on the electric cord.  The battery is also in the tool box.

Sounds like a good plan, right?  Well... not so much.  It turns out that all pure sine wave inverters are not always as quite as you would think.  On 50 MHz, I have an S4 noise floor and a buzz on the calling frequency.  When turning the antenna, its an S8 noise.  Its seem fine on 144 and 432, but on 50, its just a nightmare.  When I turned the inverter off, the noise dropped to S1 or less.  This is an AIMS inverter that I bought off e-bay from a company called Energy Igloo.  

I'm about tapped out for this contest.  I think I'm going to get a DC adapter for the laptop and just use the truck as a rotator.  Maybe I'll use my "stimulus" check for another inverter.  Any suggestions on which one to get would be greatly appreciated.  Any other thoughts or suggestions would be great as well.