so i picked up an IC-2300H a couple months ago and it sat on my desk forever because i kept putting off doing the install. finally got around to it last weekend and got it bolted under the dash in my F-150. runs power direct to the battery with a fused line, antenna is a Tram 1185 on a lip mount on the trunk... wait no its a truck so the bed rail. anyway.

the radio works fine but im getting what sounds like alternator whine when the engine is revving. its that rising pitch thing that follows the RPMs. i put a noise filter on the power line but it didnt really help much. the antenna coax runs kinda close to the firewall and im wondering if thats part of it. also the mic cable sort of drapes near the steering column which probably isnt ideal.

anyone dealt with this before on a newer truck? ive seen people mention bonding straps but not totally sure where to put them or how many. dont wanna go drilling holes everywhere if i dont have to.

alternator whine is super common and yeah bonding straps are usually the fix but you gotta figure out where the noise is actually getting in first. could be the coax shield not grounded well at the antenna mount, could be the radio chassis ground, could be the power lead picking it up. the filter on the power line helps sometimes but if the noise is coming in through the coax or a bad ground its not gonna do anything.

what i usually do is try a direct chassis ground for the radio first, like a short fat wire from the radio chassis to a bare metal spot on the body as close as possible. not the fuse box, actual metal. then check your antenna mount and make sure the coax braid has a solid connection to the vehicle body there. lip mounts can be hit or miss depending on how clean the contact is. if its still there after that then yeah start thinking about bonding straps between the hood and firewall, and maybe the cab corners. most of the time though its just a grounding issue closer to the radio itself.

i had the exact same whine in my silverado with a 2730 and it drove me nuts for like two months. turned out the coax was just too close to a bundle of engine harness wires that ran through the firewall grommet. rerouted it maybe six inches away and it was like 80% better. the rest went away when i added a bonding strap from the engine block to the firewall, pretty cheap fix honestly.

also just double check that your antenna mount actually has good contact with the metal. sometimes theres paint or powder coat under there and the ground path is basically nothing. i scraped mine down a bit and it helped a lot.