Near Truck Stop - Should I Expect to Hear Something?

[TheRealPorkchop]

Have you actually driven an automatic? the ones I've driven don't creep very well.

In the Allisons I've driven you need to constantly ride the brake for any kind of speed control and the auto-stick types lunge when on the throttle and then go into neutral when you get off it, a lack of anything that resembles slow speed control is one of their biggest problems.

No I have no experience with one but one without a clutch would be awesome for my left knee right now. In front of a milking machine having to constantly ride the clutch and brake, sucks. Now, I pull for ST Wooten and I they have automatics, their drivers love them. I have friends with automatics and they swear by them too. When I got my truck, the additional $9K is why I didn’t get one but looking back now, $9K is chump change.

Or it is when you look at the overall investment of the truck and interest and then figure in what a knee surgery will cost and missed wages.

 

[CyberRider]

So, to the OP, one “might” hear more chatter near a truckstop. In rural areas the locals can be talkative. But it’s on reaching the major metro areas that it picks up. See the map: Mega-City Regions of the United States (roughly). Population concentrations.

One half-intelligent driver yammering on can draw in dozens. Usually turns to insults after a bit, but that can be fun too. Job stress relief. You should hear me when a car driver has nearly caused me to maim or kill him (“Come on, driver, tell us how you REALLY feel”). Better not be offended by profane words.

Truck drivers aren’t readers. Like today’s youngsters. Reliant on video. Last to know and worst informed.

Talk about the job is usually intelligent. Anything else and it can get hinky.

I would no more be without a CB than I would leave home without my license and medical certification. When you need them you REALLY need them.

But today’s “plastic” trucks have made it hard to have a good radio set-up. It’s no surprise to me many drivers give up. Or rely exclusively on phone apps. (“Truckers Path” near universality; some now use as moving map. Try and tell them that nothing is “free”, ha!).

It’s become rare to find those who know what is a really great rig. $500 for a phone, sure. $500 for a very complete (very good) set of radio equipment? Naw . . .

I stuck a hybrid CB in the overhead slot yesterday. A Uniden 885 CB/Scanner. Uses GPS data. See threads on RadioReference. This sort of tool “may” make having a radio more attractive. I wish there’d been room for SSB, but, . . . .

(All of yesterday’s hoodlums were born in the early 2000’s. Man, am I getting old. 1998 was yesterday).

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That was some good stuff. Thanks!

I'm in Northern California near the Redding area. Interstate 5 is the main artery. Sometimes I hear some yacking on channel 17, but it seems unless I start jabbering dudes don't yack.

 

[TheRATT]

Well here is a heartening report from my South Seattle QTH.

I live near a hub of I-405, I-5, Hwy 167, Hwy 169... and being near Seattle (Puget Sound) we have a ton of docks and trains... and that means big rigs. Channel 17 is hot during the day (as well as other channels). At night, the semis give way to rag chewing on AM 17.. and 40LSB.

There are 24 hour short haul drivers that use 3, 12 and any number of frequencies depending on who got there first.

40LSB is our rag chewing group (Puget Sound 11m Net guys) and we bounce down to 38LSB if we need to QSO off subject.

Also at night 20 is popular for the tuners - I think for SWR - and you can hear Golden Eagles, Anytones and all kinds of great equipment with my fellow local radio lovers swapping out antennas and radios and microphones just for the hell of it.

I think I'm pretty lucky to live in an area with so much activity.. and it seems to be growing.

 

[jon666]

lot lizards

 

[Rwb]

lot lizards

haha .they shed skin diffrently

 

[Slowmover]

Where I am now it's all new Petes with Paccar engines and 10 speed automatics, I would take a ten speed manual over these ****boxes any day of the week. If I had a trainee that was as rough on slow tight maneuvers with a manual as these things are I would tell the boss to cut his losses and get rid of the guy.

Turn off the “Hill Hold” feature. Then you can creep either direction as you please. Feather it in.

Speaking of trainees, I tell them and provide examples over & over of how their job is to steer. And to brake. That’s it. The computer runs the drivetrain. An automatic only improved that.

How long has it been that a fully mechanical diesel truck has been sold? Thirty years? Thirty-five? The computer has had to constantly adjust to idiosyncratic drivers for decades now.

The tattooed, tee-shirt & chain drive wallet crowd didn’t understand their right foot didn’t connect to anything anyway. Too many are caught up in the idea they’re boss. No, that truck will tell you what it wants. It’s always been boss. What’s best. One adjusts. The right foot has to undergo re-education.

I came out of smoothbore tanker. 9-lbs/gallon. 2/3 full at gross. Calling it “tank surge” doesn’t begin to convey the risks. 47,000-lbs of product aptly described as a monster one works hard to not awaken. Sometimes all 18-gears. Up and down. Moving that smoothly, without incident AND not be too much of a burden to others is a day’s work, alright.

The truck can run the drivetrain. Happy to have do so. Better than me nearly always (manual override otherwise). Braking and steering are enough. And, indeed, not being concerned with how to time and execute shifts leaves more space for the mind to work with. To make secondary & tertiary observations. And implement those findings.

Manual has disadvantages. Auto probably has some (rebuild cost is gigantic). But controlling the truck isn’t among them. Not when one is focused on ones primary duties — which haven’t changed — steering & braking.

That I can now look farther up the road (so to speak) I may be able to earlier alter course both figuratively and literally. Start considering options earlier. (Thus CB/Scanner).

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[Slowmover]

I kinda wonder how well that Uniden 885 actually works. Maybe in the 80's-90's pretty good but today not so well. Our city, county, fire, and ems are all on a Motorola APCO 25 system that is encrypted. There is not a scanner or ap made that picks it up. Your right, a radio without SSB is just not worth it to me.

Don’t forget we’re not sitting home. I was in Ohio a few days ago. Then New Mexico. Today, Florida.

The addition of the scanner is to enable additional information about problems on the road. A few days ago on Memphis FIRE was reporting accident with fatalities.

I took the longer way around.

Some agencies are encrypted. Not all. Not by any means.

As to SSB, yes, it would be nice. But one has the CB for real time info. That won’t be on SSB. Besides, I can easily carry more then one radio.

The 885 I am viewing as I did in obtaining a GPS moving map four years ago. I found what was useful about it. And learned to watch for where it was a problem.

One of the RadioReference threads was long-term use by a driver. His take was that it was valuable enough that he’d replace it right away. As that is my sentiment about the GPS, I understood. And decided it would be a good addition.

I can alter the radio speaker output (information) to what I choose.

I haven’t yet come upon a serious Interstate accident in a rural area. That should be interesting.

Immediately after installation I was headed towards the Interstate. Heard of a bad wreck my direction. A driver offered an alternative easy for me to use (and I was empty). So, had a little drive in the countryside. And avoided what grew into a 5-mile backup. CB reports only: a VERY heavy truck traffic road nearing a major city. Scanner info dribbled in too late.

Not all problems can be avoided. Or should be (heavily loaded and onto sketchy side roads? Maybe not) as safety still stands predominant.

I usually leave both CB and Scanner functioning simultaneously. Have had some pretty good laughs after a serious “taxpayer radio” report immediately followed by some goofy truck driver ejaculation. Incongruous pairing.

Don’t have a computer with me to set up the card. I’ll try and find someone if I have a 34-reset (hours off) today.

The point of this scanner is — like CB — to help aid information in what’s happening around me RIGHT NOW.

In only a short while I’ll be far away.

Online truck driver discussions about the various brands/types of GPS maps are on the quality of traffic delay reporting. It’s about timeliness. Once one commits to a route in a big truck, that’s it.

What’s a few minutes in a car and an annoyance, is for the truck driver tied directly to his paycheck. His morale.

Emotions predominate as it’s a physically-tiring job. It’s nothing on a weekday for me to be up & about long before you. And I’ve still got the wheels turning after you’ve returned home from work. Had dinner. Thinking about bed. I had to make decisions about where to make today’s stops or destination yesterday.

A few minutes here, a few minutes there, and the whole thing can fold up and topple over.

A driver who is home every night or every weekend puts up with problems differently than someone out for weeks on end. For starters, he knows the territory.

Not so easy when the job has you many states away from familiarity. That’s when these tools take on their significance. Type, quality, accessories, installation.

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[M0GVZ]

Have you actually driven an automatic? the ones I've driven don't creep very well.

In the Allisons I've driven you need to constantly ride the brake for any kind of speed control and the auto-stick types lunge when on the throttle and then go into neutral when you get off it, a lack of anything that resembles slow speed control is one of their biggest problems.

It seems then that US trucks are still 20 years behind European ones. I've been driving automatic semis in the UK for over a decade now, doing almost a million miles in them and never had any of those issues from any manufacturer.

 

[Slowmover]

Disc brakes are “new” here. Just now becoming common. Should have mentioned it before as triple axle tractor disc plus engine brake/trans programming makes this a different world.

Europe is known for population density. The USA isn’t except on ocean coasts. And then only part of them.

One-third of total population lives Boston -Washington, for example. 95-million.

I’ll never ever miss drums. And am happy to laugh in the face of those who say they prefer them.

 

[357magnum]

I driven both over the years because of Farming , I learned to drive one in an Old Mack split shifter . The first time in an auto I must say I liked it but it shifted more than an over weight Nun w/ hemorrhoids sitting on hot gravel hauling a load of toys to an Adult Novelty store XXX . jmo

 

[StrangeBrew]

Turn off the “Hill Hold” feature. Then you can creep either direction as you please. Feather it in.

Maybe my standards for creeping are different than others but turning off the hill hold isn't good enough when you're trying to maneuver through a small neighborhood gas station in the five boroughs with a 45 foot tank on the fifth wheel, with a manual these maneuvers aren't a problem.

I came out of smoothbore tanker. 9-lbs/gallon. 2/3 full at gross. Calling it “tank surge” doesn’t begin to convey the risks. 47,000-lbs of product aptly described as a monster one works hard to not awaken. Sometimes all 18-gears. Up and down. Moving that smoothly, without incident AND not be too much of a burden to others is a day’s work, alright.

Been hauling tanks close to 30 years now with a roughly equal mix of fuel tanks and smooth bores as well as road and local work, you don't need to explain surge to me. Once you learn to read the load and work with it shifting smoothly doesn't take much effort/attention at all.

.... Not when one is focused on ones primary duties — which haven’t changed — steering & braking.

There's a lot more to handling a truck than steering and braking.

It seems then that US trucks are still 20 years behind European ones. I've been driving automatic semis in the UK for over a decade now, doing almost a million miles in them and never had any of those issues from any manufacturer.

This may be right, I don't know much about what you're running over there. I just know that I don't like what we have here. I wouldn't doubt what you're saying though because while Europe does seem to readily adopt new stuff the American trucking industry has until recently taken more of a if it's not broke don't fix it approach.

PS: The vast majority of my experience is in tanker work and in tanker work it's all about reading the movement of the load and working in harmony with it. With a manual I can work with the load without problems, with any automatic that I've driven the timing has always been off. They don't have the ability to anticipate what the load is going to do next and work with it.

In a nutshell I think most of my issues with autos is that all they can do is react to the situation they are presented with, they don't have the ability to anticipate what's coming so they can work with it.

 

[Handy Andy]

I've had the Klunk - Klunk - Klink - Shake - Shake - Shake of the creeper gears with autos - quite annoying - easier to brake with the manuals so you can at least keep torque to the trailer - pushing or pulling you than to let the slack of the saddle to kingpin jar your bones...autos, to me, didn't and don't still, anticipate very well.

It's why I love the manual - you are in control and you adapt the truck to the conditions - not let the autos' auto-load sensing equipment take it out from under you. I do 2nd the notion that autos' have the inherent lag-time - they can "Hesitate" in choosing the right gear long enough to put you in a pine box if people around you panic.

I've hauled Haz-mat - paints onto VOC's onto Propane - they are beasts unto themselves. More than once I've been forced to re-route to a terminal so the load can be properly secured and I don't lose it thru the paper-thin sides of that trailer - many a lumper didn't put the loads in right and or have ruined a good floor bed for the trailer because the kid and his power nailer went crazy back there...

 

[L2]

lot lizards

Funny. I live close to the NJ State Turnpike and a rest stop area. I remember about ten years ago we would frequently hear ladies of the night on the CB radio trying to lure lonely drivers. Wonder if they are still up to their tricks.

 

[Rwb]

Yes the ladys are more discrete.
Tankers ive pulled.cattle is more challenging.
Have to break hard and results can be bad.or hit a curve n cattle relax thats a pants filling feeling.
When you see a cow wagon weaving loaded ,its for reason.drive smooth n straight shift easy cows relax and that spells disaster.weave a little they stand braced.
A thing you learn fast

 

[Handy Andy]

I do not envy their job. Live herd and cattle are some of the most unpredictable....