Brake for clean receive?

The static is being caused by what is referred to as " rolling static" as it originates from the steer tires/hubs and it is obviously worse when driving and almost is absent when applying the brakes. It will also change with different road surfaces and disappear when road is wet, there have been a couple of articles on other forums where it was recommended to add small amount of graphite powder to hub oil and it will eliminate the static or drag rubber bungee straps or commercially made ground straps to eliminate the static.

 

Static should disappear on rainy days also.

 

In the last 10 years I have been in 3 Volvos, 2 Cascadias, and now a T680 and for whatever reason the Volvos were the worst, really didnt have much of a problem with the Cascadias or the T680 that I am currently driving, and also in the Volvos it didnt matter if the antenna being used was a fiberglass whip or a steel whip , there wasnt a significant difference.

 

My favorite truck is the Volvo 770 and 880. Best radio performance happened in that truck probably partially because of the steel body.

 

I see alot of trucks hang them below the driver side step, I have never tried it myself so cant say with any expertise whether or not it works.

 

The straps may work, and all grounding suggestions are valid. There can be another source of static that is overlooked. How many lights do you have on the tractor and trailer? Sometimes engine static can be transmitted thru the electrical wiring and radiate onto the antenna itself. it sounds far-fetched, but it does happen. I had a '68 Chevy with engine static. I 'bout pulled my hair out looking for the noise. I tried everything I knew to stop it. You name it, I grounded it. I was stumped! One day I had the HF radio on and I came to a stop light. Like you, I pressed the brake & the noise stopped! Funny I hadn't noticed that before, but when I let off the brake the buzzing came back. Mash it again, it was completely quiet.

Back home, I removed the antenna and started the car. Quiet. What th........???? It led to the discovery that the noise was being generated by the engine, getting on the tail/brake light wiring, and being transmitted to the back of the car, traveling on the harness, then transmitted onto the antenna which showed up in the receiver.

I went to the hardware store and got some plain old metal (not plastic) screen door wire, took the tail light lenses off and made a "grid" using the existing screws to ground the "screen" to the car body. It worked!

Whatever is causing YOUR noise, it sounds eerily like what happened to me 35 years ago. To see if it is tire/bearing/hub noise, or engine noise, and if its safe to do so, find a hill and kill the engine. This will let you see if it is tire/hub noise or engine static. Don't do this with this big vehicle unless you can safely get away with it. Don't want you running away or getting into an accident. Concentrate on any running lights/trailer lights that are near the antenna, on the tractor OR the van.

Anyway its just another thing to look at. Who knows, that might be the problem. IF it isn't, you'll know.

GF

 

You might try a small piece of stainless steel cable attached to the frame and allowed to drag like the bungee straps mentioned in the above posts. I attached mine to the bottom shock mount bolts and allowed only about 1/2 inch to "drag" It eliminated 90% of the static

 

Is this why a lot of guys have a bunch of half bungees on their steps? I don't recall them dragging just hanging there.