I will try to address these point in no particular order.
1) all antenna connections are good. No watt meter, but antenna work on other radio.
OK. Unlikely that's an issue, but it's worth a check. A basic watt meter would be a valuable tool and likely pay for itself by allowing you to do some basic troubleshooting without engaging a shop.
2) power tapped off existing circut under hood due to need for radios to shut off with ignition. Reason: boss said so. Too often radios left on overnight and drain vehicle battery. We live/work in a very remote location and often no where near another vehicle for boosting.
OK, I can understand that.
Most commercial radios have a "ignition sense" circuit. It's a separate wire that you connect to an ignition switched circuit. The radio gets hardwired to the battery. The ignition switched circuit will turn the radio on/off with the truck. some will even allow you to program a delay, so the radio will stay on ##minutes after you shut the truck off. 12dbsinad's suggestion about a relay will work, also.
Other option is to use a product like a Lind Timer. It's essentially the 30 amp relay mentioned above, but with a built in timer. You connect it to the battery and connect the radio + lead to that. There's a connection for ground and the ignition sense lead. Set the timer to what you want. When the truck starts, the radio is powered up. When the truck is shut off, it'll disconnect the power to the radio, either immediately, or after a set amount of time.
You can even get ones that sense when the engine is running by noticing the voltage rise from the alternator.
Takes a bit more effort to install, but addresses the "whoops, I left the radio on" issue. I run them in all my personal vehicles. Never had a radio drag the battery down.
While your boss may not agree, a good radio shop can do all this stuff for you. It will prevent a lot of issues like this. As said, the radio needs to be powered directly off the battery. Tapping into existing circuits is going to lead to issues, just like what you had.
$22 USD.
Lidnd 12 volt DC shut down timer for Laptops, 2 way radios. Used | eBay
3) I will check the power leads, and hook directly to battery and see if that makes a difference.
OK. Like 12db said above, voltage drop from an undersized circuit will cause the RF power to drop if it's starving for electricity. That can be caused by bad connections, undersized wire, too much wire, bad ground, etc.
4) Ground is good, as it completes the circuit. Ohm meter reads 0 when tested but thinking I may go to a larger gauge wire (16 may be too small) as this is a 45 watt radio and runs a lot of amps thru the circuit.
yeah, that's kind of undersized. It should work with that, but depending on how long the circuit is, it could be starving. If whatever popped the fuse also stressed that circuit, it might need to be completely disassembled and checked. Check all the connections. If it's attached to a body ground, make sure the paint is scraped clean and there is a really good metal to metal contact.
A meter showing 0Ω is one thing, but it might show more resistance when pulling a 15 amp load.
Keep the power/ground wires as short as you can. If someone bundled up all the extra wire under the dash/engine compartment, you may want to fix that.
Will go attack these solutions now, but if anyone has any other suggestions I am wide open!
Thanks for all your help mmckenna
You are welcome.
If you guys really depend on these radios, then it may be well worth taking them to a shop for a proper installation. Or, try it yourself. It can make a difference. It will cost you some money, but it'll pay off in the long run with more reliable communications, less dead batteries, less getting stuck out in the mountains.
If your antennas are not a permanent mount type, as in actually having a hole drilled in the truck roof, that's another way you can boost performance easily. Magmounts and brackets usually sap some of the performance out of things.[/QUOTE]
