Intermittent fuzzy noise on kg-xs20g

[DrBombay]

I know this help request may sound like a question for Tom & Ray on car talk, but here we go....

I just installed a new kg-xs20g in my Land Cruiser.  Running comet 39" 2x4 antenna and getting 1.8SWR.  And just got back from 1000 miles of gravel travel and camping in northern Maine with 7 other trucks.  While on the trip, I consistently I was getting blasts of fuzzy signal that would start after an hour of the radio being on. When I mean fuzzy it sounded like very heavy rain hitting a sidewalk or white noise, sort of like a UHF TV channel after the station shut down for the night (for those of you who are old enough to remember).   When the blast of said "fuzzy" would start I could not receive anyone else's transmissions. But I could send/transmit no problem.  Also, after keying up the mic the fuzzy would go away for about 30 seconds.  And, If I power cycled the kg-xs20g on/off the fuzzy would stay away for 60ish minutes.  (that was my work around for the 6 day trip). This was on channels 15 thru 22

All ideas, rumors, myths, opinions welcome.  I'm also open to exorcism if anyone has luck with that option 

TIA

[KAF6045]

Not clear if this happens when you are just sitting in one spot, or only when on the road.

If only when on-the-road, I'd be tempted to say some sort of static build-up (St. Elmo's fire, corona discharge) on the antenna from wind. If so, possibly fitting a conductive rubber ground strap or two under the rear end (they are meant to bounce on the road, grounding out the vehicle; no idea of where to find them, only that I have seen them in the past). Also ensure the antenna base is on a truly grounded mounting point (if a DVM on resistance mode doesn't show near 0 Ohms when bridging antenna base and battery negative you may need to add grounding straps around the mounts to actual body ground... might help the SWR too, an antenna that long should be tunable for lower SWR. 1.8:1 is almost into the realms of badly tuned rubber ducks).

 

[SteveShannon]

14 hours ago, KAF6045 said:

Not clear if this happens when you are just sitting in one spot, or only when on the road.

If only when on-the-road, I'd be tempted to say some sort of static build-up (St. Elmo's fire, corona discharge) on the antenna from wind. If so, possibly fitting a conductive rubber ground strap or two under the rear end (they are meant to bounce on the road, grounding out the vehicle; no idea of where to find them, only that I have seen them in the past). Also ensure the antenna base is on a truly grounded mounting point (if a DVM on resistance mode doesn't show near 0 Ohms when bridging antenna base and battery negative you may need to add grounding straps around the mounts to actual body ground... might help the SWR too, an antenna that long should be tunable for lower SWR. 1.8:1 is almost into the realms of badly tuned rubber ducks).

 

Your tires are already partially conductive, so there’s really no need for a strap hanging down.  They used to be even more conductive but over the years the amount of added carbon has been reduced, but they are still conductors.