Comments By Harvest

I’m pretty ignorant on this sort of thing. But couldn’t you file for unemployment when you get major hour cuts? I thought I heard allot of road pavers and construction workers do this. But I never experienced this first hand.

Was pulling into a TA early this afternoon in Louisiana. A kid was standing next to the sign at the truck entrance. My first thought was “where are this kids parents that’s not a good place to stand.” He was filming on his phone the trucks pulling in and did the horn gesture. I blew the air horn and he lit up smiling. Made my day and made me feel like my job is pretty cool :)

An Iowa news station did this segment about the driver shortage myth.

Driver Shortage Video

As we know the issue is high driver turnover due to long hours, relative low pay, and lifestyle being away from home

Also when you are new, your paychecks are never what you expected when getting into the business. I think training pay has been raised across all companies. But still in my opinion isn't much for being away from home so long and the hours that are worked. Plus these truck stops suck drivers dry, things are so priced gouged because they can.

My truck has a decent inverter and a tv mount. Kenworth manual says it can support up to 27 inch, but I have a 32 inch tv at home and curious if it would fit. Anyone do this? I want to at least try to mount it on the built in tv swivel. But if not, I may just set the tv on the table and lay it down when its time to drive. This is obviously the least desirable way, what are ya'lls experience with this?

I know there isn't a ton of time to relax and watch tv. But dang, on some of those days when you are just waiting it would be a gamechanger. Plus I like to fall asleep watching something, so it will be more home like for me.

Kinda off topic to this, but I also purchased a T-mobile 5G gateway. So I am going to have high speed internet with me on the go! uncapped data, only 50$ a month!!!! I am going to post a review on it once I use it for awhile. I know allot of people like me, really would loved uncapped internet while trucking.

I Found it

Lol. Yeah, I remember that trip. I spent a week there that day.

Harvest, look at this as just another learning experience and build off of that knowledge. Imagine how much easier it'll be the next time.

Also, learned how to drive from the best! When I had to get my CDL again, you should have seen how well I did on the pretrip this time 😂

I Found it

Lol. Yeah, I remember that trip. I spent a week there that day.

Harvest, look at this as just another learning experience and build off of that knowledge. Imagine how much easier it'll be the next time.

I honestly hope the "next time" isn't for a long time 😂 Or at least be able to drive through at night with less traffic.

Wow, talk about baptism by fire!

Tough assignment for anyone, let alone for a driver right out of the gate. But now you’ve been there, done that and survived the trip, I assume with your truck and trailer intact. Stand proud, man- that’s a great accomplishment in my opinion.

My company goes to Hunts Point, but it’s our only voluntary location. I haven’t volunteered yet but I’ve been across the GWB several times on my way to Connecticut. Other company drivers say it’s not too bad, but the ones who have told me this are all seasoned drivers. Kudos to you!

I may of murdered a few curbs, and honestly did hit one of those tall thin cone type things that was on a curb. But it stood back up right away so it was fine 😂. Honestly a STUPID oversight on my end was going into the city, I forgot to slide my tandems all the way forward. They were still set in the middle. I had to jug handle a few turns to make em, and just make sure not to hit the driver speeding around when I was doing it.

Leaving the city was also stressful, I got kinda lost. Traffic was bumper to bumper in the city at one point. There was a lady selling fruit standing in the middle of the road that had me stressed.

Also a NYPD officer was directing traffic at an intersection, dude waved me to come through like a "hurry up" wave. Good thing I was paying attention because 2 people walked right into the middle of the road in front of me. I was so tired at the end of the day I ended up actually paying for reserved parking at a TA 😂

Also, does anyone know why in NYC, on the truck route there will be signs saying overpass height is 12'8 but normal semi's can fit under it? I stopped when I first saw it, and then I saw another big sleeper truck just go through.

This past week I got my first load, it was to the "Food Bank For New York City". At first, I said I was uncomfortable taking this load. Besides CDL school, I have not driven a truck in over 2 years. But they told me if I don't take it, it will be the only load until Monday... So hesitantly I took it, looking back in hindsight, I should have put my foot down on not going. Not worth the risk, I can go the rest of my life without seeing NYC ever again lol. People park in travel lanes, drive crazy, will go around you on the shoulder. Super tight turns where you have to force room, people trying to sell things standing in the middle of a crowded road where you gotta turn. GPS was going CRAZY, its a good GPS, Randy Mcnally that the company gave me. But it kept rerouting me constantly, or not knowing where I was at. I kept missing my turn, there is a tricky part on Food center drive where you turn into what looks like the oncoming lane on the other side of the median, but it isn't.

The worst part is, I was stuck on the George Washington Bridge over 2 hours. So even with running hard using all my hours, rarely stopping, the load was late. The receiver said it will be rescheduled for Tuesday, so the company had me bring the trailer back to the yard. I was worried I went through all that for nothing, but they told me I would still be paid for the miles I drove. Anyone else ever deliver here?

One thing is for sure, I will NEVER EVER accept any load going east of the George Washington Bridge ever again haha. But it was a confidence builder, I feel like if I can drive through that, I can handle any city. It was a dumb load to put me on, and I should of stuck with not going.

Ok, I know I’m exposing my ignorance here, but what is SWR?

Standing Wave Ratio

There is a setting on the radio where you are able to see what the SWR is when keying the mic. This is a measure of the power output reaching destination in ratio to the power reflected back to the transmitter. The higher the number, the more potential there is to damage the radio. Get that number up to 3 or 4 and it will fry the radio before long.

I bought a fire stick still using factory coax. Could only afford to currently get one until I get my first paycheck. Took the antenna off the other side. I got the SWR down to 3.5, I assume I will get better performance once I get another antenna for the other mirror.

It was more frustrating of an operation than it should of been. I had to buy a adjustable wrench from Pilot, THEY WANTED 12$ for is 🤬. Brought it out to the truck to take the factory antenna off. The base for the antenna came with it and it had me stumped for a minute. Didn't know how to put the firestick on since it was a male connector I was seeing on the mirror. But then I remembered that the base for the antenna was still on the factory antenna. I tried for 10 minutes to get it unscrewed with a single wrench but couldn't and I wasn't about to buy another 12$ wrench. So I walked into the Pilot with the wrench I bought and the factory antenna. Went to the tool wall and just *borrowed* another wrench to get leverage to unscrew 🤣nobody said anything. Add that to the list of things I need for the truck when I am home, a tool set.

I am wondering if having no antenna mounted on the other mirror is negatively affecting performance since a coax is still running to that mirror. Until I get more funds, 3.5 should be okay for now right?

I also bought another power cable for my CB so I didn't have to have the 12v plug coming down from the CB. The one that came with the radio wasn't working it seemed when I wired it. So I thought it was defective and bought another one. Only to realize it wasn't powering on because you need to have the key turned to accessory or on for it to power the CB 🤬was a frustrating time lol

The question also about the firestick. I see the top is adjustable to tune it. However, I see that the lowest position of the firestick is what gets me the lowest SWR. Should I have gotten a smaller antenna? I think I got the Firestik 2 version.

Debating getting a Stryker 447HPC2 because it is easy to convert to a CB. But I need to do more research about powering the thing before going that route. I really do find the CB to be allot of fun and at times useful. Reminds me of game chat when playing Call of duty sometimes lol