To echo M5PMs comment above, it is generally a best practice to "home run" positive and ground directly to/from battery with radios.Not sure about powering a ham radio this way. There could be a lot of rf interference re the cars systems. Itās always been recommended to me to power my radios direct to battery.
73 de M5PM![]()
Thanks John. is that Diamond antenna on your hood (bonnet?) ⦠mineās a Diamond mounted on the rear door hinge but I canāt get the SWR below 2To echo M5PMs comment above, it is generally a best practice to "home run" positive and ground directly to/from battery with radios.
However, I deviated from this principle wiring two ham radios, a Yaesu ftm 400 and a Yaesu 891, to Aux 1 and Aux 2 respectively and used a ground stud in the pax footwell for ground. I have no noted interference from ABS which I ALWAYS experience on other vehicles, or any other sources, knock on wood. I do have the 392 which has a metal hood and do have the hood grounded via a braided ground strap to the body.
Part of the enjoyment of the hobby is experimenting, tinkering, and seeing what does or does not work. If you have the Aux switches and struggling to route wires directly to the battery, try the Aux switches staying mindful of the radio's amperage needs along with the Aux switch amp capacity.
Edit: I do prefer to mount my antennas on the hood rather than on the roof (Sky One touch) or the rear as the forward mounts usually provide for more reliable ground plane and better SWR performance. In my 392 install, I am below 1.5:1 on all VHF/UHF frequencies with the Diamond antenna and ftm 400. The HF ATAS 120a (can serve as VHF/UHF too) is tuned via the Yaesu 891 radio responding exceptionally well to hood mount.
You may not have a good ground and I have always struggled with rear mounted antennas getting SWR down even with a braided 1" wide ground strap between antenna base and the frame. I have much better success front mounting my antennas and chock it up to the ground plane from the hood (but just a hypothesis).Thanks John. is that Diamond antenna on your hood (bonnet?) ⦠mineās a Diamond mounted on the rear door hinge but I canāt get the SWR below 2
I don't have a picture but I recently found the wires looped back very close to the center console. The end was wrapped with tape so it wasn't apparent it was the auxiliary wires. I could get to it without removing panels.Does anyone have a pic or better determination of where there wire bundle was located in the passenger footwell... I pulled the panel and still could not find the appropriate bundle. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Is it just me, or does the offical Jeep Wrangler AUX wire installer just roll a dice and place the wires accordingly?! glove box, center consul, right footwell... SHEESSHHHH! hope no one with OCD is following this thread!Found it, it was located left side of passenger footwell towards top of carpet folded back on itself and taped. Thanks for the help.
Here is a great chart of all the GROUND points in the JL. This comes from the "JL Wiring Diagrams" download on this site, which has 90 items. Have found these resources REALLY good when working on the Jeep.@Shots
I see you are preparing for your install and thinking it through ahead of time. That is a positive move.
DO think over what ground point you will use. Actually, think multiple ground points you could use in case one you think will work will not.
I have had a few guys PM or call me while they were in the process of doing the install... they could not get their light set working and their issue, all went back to a ground point..... that was no good, iffy, intermittent.
I pointed out a ground point or two, early on in this thread. Some guys have found the ground points worked and a couple of guys had issues with them.
At the ground point, do clean off all paint, etc..
Do use a ring connector and not just wind wire around a ground point bolt.
Best bet is to verify with a tester that your ground point is aok .... do this before you do your actual light set install.
You can use a 12v tester to test or just use say an old 12v trailer lamp receptacle or similar.
Point of this post is to let you and other's know that ground points, can often be lets say, a tiny stumbling point during an install using the Aux wires. YOU may be aware of what I just mentioned buy many are not aware of same..
.