Very cool! I'm going to use an AH-4 in my rig and also ordered a Breedlove isolator. Where do you ground the tuner to?

I was thinking I might mount my tuner in that little cubby back there, but your spot is interesting too.

What antenna are you using?

 

If you look at my first picture I posted, you can see a copper braided cable near the hinges. That's my ground. That goes from the AH-4 ground lug, down to the bolt from the tie-down loop on the hinge side. The two loop bolts right near the rear door seal seem to provide a good electrical ground to the body etc.

To run the antenna lead, I drilled a 1" hole in the rear door sheet metal using a metal hole-saw, and then placed a rubber grommet around it. The hole is directly opposite to the existing factory rubber plug in the tailgate near the tire mount...so I ran my antenna lead directly out through there and up to the breedlove mount.

Note, the AH-4 can generate some high voltages on the hot side depending on the impedances, so you have to be careful about being close to any metal on that side....good to use a high-voltage rated insulated cable. I used the center conductor and insulator from some RG-213 coax as the conductor and soldered on some ring loops to both ends. That is the white cable you can see on the top of the AH-4.

I am getting some RFI on 10m and 20m (the worst) killing the Jeep computer, so I have to work on that some more grounding/bonding I think. Though, I don't actually use the rig that much when driving. I have my HF radio in a go-box...so typically I set up my radio outside the Jeep (or in my house) and run coax/tuner cables outside to the Jeep to the tuner/antenna in the Jeep from a picnic table or something. I have a cheap 2m/70cm radio with an antenna on the hood for everyday. I don't like to leave the IC-7000 in the Jeep due to theft concern.

I usually use a long steel whip (106" or something - a CB whip I believe) antenna when driving - the AH-4 tunes it up well. When I'm parked, I have various lengths of wire with an alligator clip on each end...so when I am parked, I clip on extra lengths of wire to the end of the whip to extend it longer and throw it up into a tree or something. I also have some extra ground radials (16) with a clip attached, so when parked, I can clip extra radials to the ground side of the tuner as well. Seems to work well. I have also attached HF hamsticks to the mount too...

Grant

 

Superb feedback. Thanks Grant! I was also concerned with the voltages and was also considering using a coax center conductor for the antenna lead.

Great insight.

 

Finally have some time to reply with pics. and narrative.

The mount was purchased on a Tuesday, and was at my door on Thursday the same week. Instructions were very good and detailed.

I had already mounted the control head of my 706 (it's at the top of the photo - the lower is the 710A dual band transceiver).

Attachment 319703

The 706 transceiver is at the rear of the Jeep, attached to the roll cage using U-bolts. This was the original installation. From the radio output, I just used coax to various "Hamstick" antennas for 20 / 40 and 80 meters. Now, with the Breedlove mount (near the location of the AH-4 tuner) I can utilize the AH-4, as the feed line is less than 12" (I also used the center conductor of RG-213 for this).

Attachment 319700

The problem that I encountered, re: the location of the mount, was that there is another sheet-metal piece about 2" inside the fender well from the outside of the fender (remove the brake light assembly, and you'll see the issue). I'm guessing that it's there for structural support. It would prove impossible to try to mount the Breedlove without making a larger hole in that inner piece of sheet metal. Fortunately, I have a set of sheet metal punches (standard electrical trade size). I was able to fit the 1/2" punch in the space behind the outside fender, then use a 1 1/4" punch to make a large hole. This allow me to install all of the pieces of the mount easily (relatively!!!), and route the feed line from the AH-4. The copper braid is also from the 213. I used it to ground the Breedlove backing plate to the Jeep chassis, and to the AH-4 and the 706.

Attachment 319707

Then I connected a 102" SS whip to the mount, and ran the radio / tuner through the bands. Had no issues with 80 / 60 / 40 and even 6 meters. I was having issues with 20 / 17 / 15 and 10 meters. While trying to tune, the radio would just shut down. I assumed that RF was getting into the control line cables, so out came the box of split-core ferrite beads. I installed them at the control lines from the head to the radio (about 3 to 4 inches from the respective units), and also at the control cable from the radio to the tuner (again, at about 3 to 4 inches). Now I can tune all of the bands with absolutely no effort. Granted, a 102" piece of wire isn't the best length of wire to load, it will radiate. Pictures of the bead install are not shown.

The ferrite beads also reduced some of the engine noise getting into the receiver.

All in all, a fine product, and a very satisfied customer.

Attachment 319701Attachment 319702

 

Very nice insight. I'll be doing something similar, using a Breedlove HF insulator mount, a 706, AH-4 and a 102" whip. All parts are sitting in my hamshack ready to go once I actually have a Jeep to install them on!

The double-panel metal was why I initially moved away from the ball mount style mount and toward a tailgate mount. I'll be bonding my tailgate, but since I'm using the ah-4, I won't be grounding to my tailgate for HF anyway.

Ended up picking up a couple of the Arizona Rocky Road brackets and then two of the Breedlove mounts. The HF insulator and a NMO to SO-249 mount for VHF/UHF. I'll be interested to see how it all does.

 

Thanks for responding!

 

My setup: Breedlove HF insulator on a Teraflex mount, 102" Rat Shack whip on a Gunny 6" extension, AH-4 tuner on the tailgate, IC-706 on rear roll bar, control head on dash using a RAM mount. Works well on the high bands, though TX on 20 causes Jeep computer to go batty.

 

I do not see any chokes on the outside for the installation. You need a common mode choke at the base of the antenna feed on the outside of the vehicle. The jeeps have a problem with 20m messing up the yaw controller computer CAN bus.

A non-resonant antenna has more common mode on the coax which you have to kill on the outside of the vehicle.

Have fun KD8NNU

 

[QUOTE=gs2offroad;3035792]My setup: Breedlove HF insulator on a Teraflex mount, 102" Rat Shack whip on a Gunny 6" extension, AH-4 tuner on the tailgate, IC-706 on rear roll bar, control head on dash using a RAM mount. Works well on the high bands, though TX on 20 causes Jeep computer to go batty.

QUOTE]

Looking at your pics I also do not see a common mode choke on your setup. This is a requriement for a Jeep. The CAN buss has a problem with 20m.

I used to disconnect my sway bar on the Rubi when I first started with HF, now I can work the world (with good propagation).

Bonding and the proper choking will fix the problem.

KD8NNU

 

It's much worse than you think, the AH-4 is the base of the antenna and should really be mounted outside the vehicle.
But for what I use it for, the setup is fine. Kind of fun to watch the computer go batty when TXing on 20.

73 Mitch K7MSC