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Random Quote: Blessed are the cracked, for it is they that let in the light
Going to do some more testing tomorrow. But did determine today, with boat in water, noise from Lowrance started as soon as the tip of the antenae wire connector touched the plug on the back of the VHF. Did not even have to get it plugged in. Once the two metals made contact the noise was there on the VHF. Not sure what this means but I ma thinking it means its more likely the antennae is picking up the noise and sending it to the VHF instead of being an issue with the antennae wire shielding, or VHF grounding, agree or no?
Hmmm, it sounds as though it is, doesn't it? Shifting the arial would be my next test. Have you got a handheld radio or can you borrow one? It might give you further clues.
Yep good thoughts. My next test was going to disconnect the antennae from the boat and move it away and see what happens. After that try to ground the metal handrail and check the shield wire on the Lowrance. I still need to call Lowrance and check their experience. I am beginning to think its a shielding problem with their unit. I read another post where someone had problems with internal sheilding and they sent him a new unit which solved much of the problem.
Palmettores, I was having the same problems and actually set up another vhf radio with antenna to a battery in the driveway next to the boat and still got interference. My unit is the Lowrance 25c and I shipped it back to them last week. I'm not very pleased with their tech or customer service departments.
I'll report if they solve my problems.......
Please do Mushy...I assume then after all the tests you went thru you they agreed to work on the unit itself? Let us know the results and how long they keep it.
unhooked antennae from console and moved it 3-4 feet away from Lowrance with same Noise. Would have gone further but out of cable (it had been shortened).
I then connected the Lowrance to a spare battery to make sure that was not an issue - it was not.
To ground the handrail I connected a jumper cable to it and to the neg post on the main battery. Boat was not in water so will try again tomorrow while in the water. Had no impact though in the shop.
Hopefully Mushy finds the problem is with the unit. Mushy, did you determine the niose on yours was coming in through the antennae wiring also?
Just wondered if all of these interference issues were with the boat in the water? I mostly resolved mine with ferrite beads--but putting the boat in the water away from my lift has seemed to resolved all of the interference.
I've heard nothing from Lowrance yet. I fiqured it would be a few weeks, so I'm trying to be patient. All of the major tests I performed was while the boat was on the trailer. I assume it was coming through the antenna wire since it stopped once I disconnected the antenna wire from the radio. I believe it's going to be a shielding problem with the Lowrance unit itself. It would change interference levels as I switch to different back lighting levels??? I'll report as soon as I hear from Lowrance.
I am having the same problem with a Lowrance 332c and an Icom 302 installed on a bay boat. I have tried all of the mentioned remedies concerning the vhf power source and antenna. I called Lowrance customer service and after explaining my problem was given the following information from their help desk. "Lowrance units with color screens operate at certain frequencies that are close to the frequencies of certain vhf's. You can try shielding the any of the cables as well as the Lowrance unit itself or move the vhf and lowrance further apart. (Not an option-bayboat) The only other thing that you can do is send us the unit back so that we can tune the frequencies emiitted by your unit in order to stop the "noise". The customer service rep continually pointed out that returning the unit could take from 4-6 weeks. The rep almost seemed to discourage sending the unit back. In a nut shell I feel like Lowrance has shipped these units without their quality control being up to snuff. I am really aggrevated at this point and am thinking about replacing the unit with a garmin.
I feel your aggrevation. I have come to the conslusion it must be a unit problem. No matter what I do I cannot get rid of the noise on mine. My VHF does pick up a little engine noise also but I think I can manage that but the Lowrance noise is so much that you cannot even use your VHF with it on.
I am hoping Mushy has good results with sending his back and if so I'll send mine back this winter once the fishing is over. It definitely seems like something that should have been already corrected - most saltwater boats have VHF and when you spend $1400 on an electronic unit you don't expect such problems.
Used a handheld today at West Marine and same interference with Lowrance. This to me confirms its a problem with the unit. Anywhere on the boat you cannot use squelch at any reasonable level to eliminate the noise once you turn on the LCX-26.
Just an update, it's been 4weeks now and no word from Lowrance on the repair. They did say it could take 4-6 weeks. Their customer service can only tell me that it's being processed.
Lowrance reveived my GPS unit on Oct. 2nd and I got it back Yesterday the 3rd of Nov. Apparently there was something wrong with the unit as they sent me back a new unit. They forgot to send back my GPS antenna though. Hopefully I will got that soon and I can install the new unit and see if the interference problems go away.
I'm assuming they found something wrong if they replaced it. It was just over a year old and they charged nothing for the exchange. I'll post the results.
Since Lowrance forgot to include my GPS antenna when they shipped the unit back to me, I was unable to test that part. However, I did hook up the fishfinder part and it DID NOT interfere. I called Lowrance costumer service regarding the missing GPS antenna and within 10 seconds I was speaking to an actual person! She ran a check and found the missing antenna. I had it two days later. I'm hoping that there will be no interference once I install the GPS antenna. Hopefully Lowrance have started to turn things around.
BTW, under their recorded phone menu options, there's a new section dealing with models 25c, 26c and 111c. If there's a problem that wide spread, they should recall the products.
Will report once I install the antenna.
Mushy
Re: VHF interference 
