radio static

[broncobob]

their seems to be alot of radio problems with the harley unit and would'nt you know i have a problem with mine as well. i have an 07 ultra and the rear headphones are contantly cracken and making static. we have switched headphones, cables, and have plugged the cords into both connectors and i cannot duplicate the problem from the front position. the front is fine but no matter what we do the rear messes up. the headphones are the originals and the radio is stock. my girl friend at times has a problem hearing all modes because of static. it doesn't matter if its the cb, cd, or radio. anybody else with this problem? like i said the front position is as clear as a bell. help!!

 

[R. Lewis]

their seems to be alot of radio problems with the harley unit and would'nt you know i have a problem with mine as well. i have an 07 ultra and the rear headphones are contantly cracken and making static. we have switched headphones, cables, and have plugged the cords into both connectors and i cannot duplicate the problem from the front position. the front is fine but no matter what we do the rear messes up. the headphones are the originals and the radio is stock. my girl friend at times has a problem hearing all modes because of static. it doesn't matter if its the cb, cd, or radio. anybody else with this problem? like i said the front position is as clear as a bell. help!!

Since you have tried all the above - pull your seat and check the harness for a bare/pinched wire. Check your plug for foreign particles.

 

[CropdusterDoug]

I have a radio static problem with my '86 Tour Glide. It's related to the rotation of the front wheel? For each turn of the front wheel, there are four equally divided double clicks of static on the radio? The mechancs kept saying that it's an alternator stator problem. Wrong. I can cruising down the road, squeeze the clutch, turn the engine off, and the static continues until the bike slowly comes to a stop. The static decreases in relation to the slowing speed. To confirm that it's a problem with the rotation of the wheel, I put the bike up on a lift in my garage. There is no problem with turning the rear wheel, but turning the front wheel by had results in that equally spaced double click radio static? I'm completely baffled by this???

The speedometer is a gear driven cable drive. I've tried holding a grounding wire to the brake disc rotors to drain any static produced by the slight rubbing against the brake pads. Nothing I do gets rid of that static, and I've run out of ideas? Has anyone else ever had this problem? What did you do to correct it?

 

[Hoople]

I have a radio static problem with my '86 Tour Glide. It's related to the rotation of the front wheel? For each turn of the front wheel, there are four equally divided double clicks of static on the radio?

1)Does the problem Only happen when using FM?
2)Are you using the factory antenna and is the antenna mounted in the usual rear storage compartment (tour pac). And is it sticking straight up.
3)Was the radio installed after the bike was purchased.
4)Is it the typical radio that would be installed for that year bike.
5)Did you add any "boosters" to the antenna.
6)Did you modify or change the height of the factory antenna.
7) Was the PRESENT system ever working correctly with no static.
8) Does the static increase in volume as you increase the volume control or is the level of static remain constant regardless of volume pot position?

One more question.

9)Have you disconnected the speedo cable from either end and still get the noise.

i have an 07 ultra and the rear headphones are contantly cracken and making static.

BroncoBob, Did not mean to high-jack your thread but the wheel static problem really got my attention.

I don't have tunes on my bike so bear with me.
1) On the rear, does the headphone jack use a 1/4" RCA Phono plug or does it use a 7 pin DIN plug?
2) Do you hear the static change or does it get worse when you adjust the rear volume control.
3) As long as you are not moving (with engine off also) can you listen to the rear headphones static free?

The closest schematics I have are for a 2009 Ultra. On that year there are rear speakers along w/ rear headphones. The rear also has their own volume control. Is that what you have.
Do you have a service manual for your exact year & model bike?

 

[CropdusterDoug]

It's the original radio, static on AM/FM and CB, original antenna without boosters. The static becomes louder or softer with the volume control. The problem was intermittent, but now is permanent. I'll pull the speedometer cable off tomorrow to see if that makes a difference and post my results? Of course I'm wondering why the speedo cable would affect the radio?

 

[CropdusterDoug]

Okay, the static problem is fixed! Waa Hooo!!! A little more background. The AVC (auto volume control) only did work once in a while. When it did, I still had to adjust the volume for louder or softer, because the automatic spread of loudness wasn't enough of a spread to be loud enough for cruising, or soft enough for sitting at stop lights in traffic. I loosened the speedometer cluster but wasn't able to get my fingers to the bottom to be able to remove the speedo cable. Then I thought, "well, the clicks may be the signal to the AVC. If I cut that AVC wire to the Speedo, the volume will either be stuck on low volume, or high volume." There was about 4 extra inches of AVC wire, so I figured that if I cut it and it didn't work, I could just resolder it. So cut it I did. The volume is on the high side, and spinning the front wheel comfirmed that the static problem is gone.