Baffling radio interference

DutchmenSport wrote:
I remember as a kid, dad gave me this old radio, it was really neat, and I really wish I still had it. But it was AM only. I could get specific signals that caused a tick-tick-tick sound, and another one that would give a squalling sound, and under my bunk beds, it became my control panel for my make believe submarine. It was awesome! (Later, I somehow got hooked on Country Music!).

I remember those radios. My brother and I had one in our bedroom. It was about 18" high and shaped like a cathedral. It had a tiny little window on the front where the AM frequencies were printed on a lighted wheel. When you turned the knob, the numbers went by behind an index line. We used to "secretly" listen to the baseball game, when we were supposed to be sleeping. I hadn't thought about that in years! Thanks.

I had a 73 chev pkup and it did that, a friend of mine was a radio man and he put a filter on the radio and it went away.

Sometimes when those ignition coils fail, they can produce RF interference, which can cause different symptoms. Alternators can do it as well. You could have a Ford dealer check it for any signs of misfire, and have the ignition coils stress tested.
Is there any aftermarket equipment on the vehicle? Is it a factory radio?

See my reply on the other forum you posted in.

My dad was a television / radio repair man when I was a kid. I grew up with a house full of broken electronics and a room full of televisions running in "test mode". Some were outside the cabinet, just laying on the floor. For a 6 year old kid in 1961, this was 'electronic paradise.'

I learned a few things from Dad. This was in the day before FM radio existed. UHF on televisions (channel 14 and up on air TV) was in it's infancy, technology was new, changing fast, and although I did not work on this stuff, found it pretty exciting to be around this stuff.

Had things not gone the way it did, he probably would be as big and profitable as Best Buy now, but circumstances took a different turn. By the time I was 16, his business was gone. By the time I was 26, he died (alcoholism)... you get the picture...

Anyway, back to your problem. AM frequency is very subject to electric impulses as electricity has a "wavelength" that often interferes with AM signals. I mention my dad, because I remember him explaining to me on countless times, the repair he was doing on someone radio was for the electric interferences. He installed a resister, or a transistor, or some kind of filter on those old radios and that took care of the problem.

Now, in your truck, I don't know how you'd take care of that, other than taking it to a shop somewhere and see what they diagnose.

I remember as a kid, dad gave me this old radio, it was really neat, and I really wish I still had it. But it was AM only. I could get specific signals that caused a tick-tick-tick sound, and another one that would give a squalling sound, and under my bunk beds, it became my control panel for my make believe submarine. It was awesome! (Later, I somehow got hooked on Country Music!).