07-14-2007, 10:04 PM
I have a question for the collective braintrust out here. It deals with static on my car BC receiver. It is such that I am discouraged from mounting any sort of ham gear in the car for fear it will be an experience less than satisfactory. Here goes.
First off, I live in Oregon. At first I wondered if the state had somehow managed to find a way to interrupt my favorite choice of programming by introducing some sort of noise generator tuned to the frequencies I habit. Then a short time later I discovered that it was over the entire AM band and not aimed at my particular choices. Scratching my head, I started trying to pinpoint the sources or conditions that caused this to happen. After noticing this was only happening on the evening commute, and only on dry sunny days I began to wonder what it is all about.
For a little background, I drive 60 miles each way into the Portland metro area from a small community seaward down the Columbia River. I am driving a 97 Geo listening on a Pioneer deck that otherwise works flawlessly. I have eliminated any electrical system or device on the car as the source. I have noticed that this (obviously) only occurs when I am far away from the transmitters and working them 'weak signal'. I enjoy the stations out of Seattle as well so they are already kinda down in the noise to begin with and get stronger as I return home. SWL is a passion of mine and copying far off stations helps whittle away the boredom. (sidenote: its sad when Reno, NV comes in better at night than Portland, OR) Anyway, I also discovered that the static is gone on a concrete road surface as well as a dirt surface. It is present mainly on asphalt and worse when the asphalt is shiny. Paint lines will really get it going and only when exposed to sunlight such as during the afternoon commute. Wet pavement has absolutely no noise in the radio except, of course, for the static crashes from lightning. Also, and I think at this point the culprit, I am running studless snowtires. The noise happens over 20 mph generally. Stop the car and the noise goes away. Do I need a funky ground strap dragging down the road?
My hypothesis: The sipes in the snow tires are generating a static charge while in motion.
My question: Besides the option of replacing the tires with a more traditional tread design for oversized go-carts such as mine, what can I do to alleviate this? New tires are not likely any time soon.
If the 706 is gonna have hash listening on the BC, 160 and so on why bother putting it in? My plan for attaching a screwdriver is quite involved all the way around and dont want to have issues with it in summer. There are too many other things here needing fiscal attention to waste resources on a boondoggle. Know what I mean? I wish government would.
If any of you have had a similar situation and found a remedy I would appreciate a response. It is nothing I remember dealing with in the past on any other vehicle, but I also sometiimes have difficulty remembering last week, so......
Thank you and 73. eric
First off, I live in Oregon. At first I wondered if the state had somehow managed to find a way to interrupt my favorite choice of programming by introducing some sort of noise generator tuned to the frequencies I habit. Then a short time later I discovered that it was over the entire AM band and not aimed at my particular choices. Scratching my head, I started trying to pinpoint the sources or conditions that caused this to happen. After noticing this was only happening on the evening commute, and only on dry sunny days I began to wonder what it is all about.
For a little background, I drive 60 miles each way into the Portland metro area from a small community seaward down the Columbia River. I am driving a 97 Geo listening on a Pioneer deck that otherwise works flawlessly. I have eliminated any electrical system or device on the car as the source. I have noticed that this (obviously) only occurs when I am far away from the transmitters and working them 'weak signal'. I enjoy the stations out of Seattle as well so they are already kinda down in the noise to begin with and get stronger as I return home. SWL is a passion of mine and copying far off stations helps whittle away the boredom. (sidenote: its sad when Reno, NV comes in better at night than Portland, OR) Anyway, I also discovered that the static is gone on a concrete road surface as well as a dirt surface. It is present mainly on asphalt and worse when the asphalt is shiny. Paint lines will really get it going and only when exposed to sunlight such as during the afternoon commute. Wet pavement has absolutely no noise in the radio except, of course, for the static crashes from lightning. Also, and I think at this point the culprit, I am running studless snowtires. The noise happens over 20 mph generally. Stop the car and the noise goes away. Do I need a funky ground strap dragging down the road?
My hypothesis: The sipes in the snow tires are generating a static charge while in motion.
My question: Besides the option of replacing the tires with a more traditional tread design for oversized go-carts such as mine, what can I do to alleviate this? New tires are not likely any time soon.
If the 706 is gonna have hash listening on the BC, 160 and so on why bother putting it in? My plan for attaching a screwdriver is quite involved all the way around and dont want to have issues with it in summer. There are too many other things here needing fiscal attention to waste resources on a boondoggle. Know what I mean? I wish government would.
If any of you have had a similar situation and found a remedy I would appreciate a response. It is nothing I remember dealing with in the past on any other vehicle, but I also sometiimes have difficulty remembering last week, so......
Thank you and 73. eric