Out of Frequency---- Maybe?

[Texas Mobil 219]

If you antenna is out of frequency. Will it effect you reception? Reason im asking is im having trouble pick up cbers on 19. If there close no problem but if they are far of lets say 10 to 15 mile nothing.

I just installed Belden 9913 and my swr's are flat. The needle hardly moves. Im think that my meters might have gone bad and is giving me a false reading.

I run a 102'' whip with no spring at cab hight. Uniden 78 p/t w/ swing kit. Gspot 800 amp.(2x4) It showing that im swinging 800 watts now and idolling at 600.
(normal im told for this amp)

Thanks and Happy New Year.

219 In Texas.

['Doc]

Actually, that sounds about normal. Depends a lot of propagation of course, some days/times are better than others.
- 'Doc

[Circuit Breaker]

If your antenna is out of resonance then the SWR would be high and, yes, it would also affect receive.

Some will say you need a spring on the 102" whip to make it resonant on 11 meters. That depends on the mounting location. In most cases, 102" whips are mounted relatively low because of their length. This puts some of the vehicle body in the antenna field and that can affect how long or short the antenna actually needs to be. The mounting location can also have an impact on the feedpoint impedance, which will also affect how long or short the antenna needs to be. I've never used a spring with any of my 102" whip installations and I've always had a good match. I prefer to run on 11 meters and the upper frequencies anyway, so by not using a spring, the antenna is a little shorter giving me better coverage of CB up to 10 meters.

You mentioned your SWR is good and that you can receive out to about 10 or 15 miles....if that is mobile to mobile then I would say everything on your system is working just as it should. You may be putting out some power, but that will only affect your transmit so you're probably transmitting further than you can hear.

[sideways]

I by no means am one of the most knowledgable on here , but I'll thrw this up there. I am only approx 2 mi. from I 480,However I'm due S of it . I do not even get truckers on the base station. (antenna is 32' up to feed pt., I do believe it would be caused a bit from being due S of them and the fact they are "very directional". I 480 runs E -W. and I may be a pinch lower. I have considerably more range to bases both N and S of me (and 480). When mobile (on 480) I have also noticed that some of the baseson a parallel line with my base and S of me are spotty at best in my rx, if I hear them at all. Could this be similar to your situation or could you hear them before the 9913 install?

[Grump]

I by no means am one of the most knowledgable on here , but I'll thrw this up there. I am only approx 2 mi. from I 480,However I'm due S of it . I do not even get truckers on the base station. (antenna is 32' up to feed pt., I do believe it would be caused a bit from being due S of them and the fact they are "very directional". I 480 runs E -W. and I may be a pinch lower. I have considerably more range to bases both N and S of me (and 480). When mobile (on 480) I have also noticed that some of the baseson a parallel line with my base and S of me are spotty at best in my rx, if I hear them at all. Could this be similar to your situation or could you hear them before the 9913 install?

I'm just a mud duck in training but unless you antenna is a beam and pointed away from 480 being south of it i wouldn't think would be the cause. Most antennas are omnidirectional and unless you are in a hole deeper than your antenna you should be able to reach out to 480 and slap them along side the that close with a base. The next question is do you have a hill that is close to your antenna on the north side or something else that could be blocking your signal from going north

[sideways]

I'm sure it is a combination of your suggestions about (my location), wasn't trying to hijack T.M. 219's thread. More of a "food for thought" post. If there is one thing I've learned on here its about location location location Thanks Grump for looking out though. 73's

[djrebel236]

As long as your SWR are low, then i wouldnt worry about it to much, it is normal to hear bad(junk) sounding radios on the disney channel(ch.19), not all drivers take the time to make sure that their antenna is setup good with low SWR or even care as long as they can be heard for that matter...Dj

[Mr B]

I by no means am one of the most knowledgable on here , but I'll thrw this up there. I am only approx 2 mi. from I 480,However I'm due S of it . I do not even get truckers on the base station. (antenna is 32' up to feed pt., I do believe it would be caused a bit from being due S of them and the fact they are "very directional". I 480 runs E -W. and I may be a pinch lower. I have considerably more range to bases both N and S of me (and 480). When mobile (on 480) I have also noticed that some of the baseson a parallel line with my base and S of me are spotty at best in my rx, if I hear them at all. Could this be similar to your situation or could you hear them before the 9913 install?

I think you need to look at your antenna or radio as you should hear ANY CB radio that is two miles away regardless of direction.
Something is wrong ... did someone install a pin in your coax?

[Night Crawler]

If you antenna is out of frequency. Will it effect you reception? Reason im asking is im having trouble pick up cbers on 19. If there close no problem but if they are far of lets say 10 to 15 mile nothing.

I just installed Belden 9913 and my swr's are flat. The needle hardly moves. Im think that my meters might have gone bad and is giving me a false reading.

Check it with another meter if you think the one your using is giving you false readings. If it shows the same low swr then it's not the antenna being out of tune. It's either your location or conditions. Like someone else posted sounds normal. You never know what the other guys running 15-20 miles away could be his problem.

[Grump]

it could be that the truckers on 19 10 to 15 miles away may not have a good setup. see if someone you know can go the same distance away and see if you can hear them. Most drivers no nothing about cbs or antennas or how to set them up as long as it gets to the other side of the interstate

[elmer fudd]

it could be that the truckers on 19 10 to 15 miles away may not have a good setup. see if someone you know can go the same distance away and see if you can hear them. Most drivers no nothing about cbs or antennas or how to set them up as long as it gets to the other side of the interstate

Grump is right most truckers have a basic radio maybe so-called peaked / tune and slap an antenna on it and most don't even know what swr's stand for. I know this because I drive a truck and was that way for a long time. My rig in my truck now that is setup properly is good for only about 10 miles at best barefoot. I can hear farther than that sometimes (depending on conditions and terrain) but can't talk more than 10-11 miles at best. Hope this helps.

[Circuit Breaker]

Grump is right most truckers have a basic radio maybe so-called peaked / tune and slap an antenna on it and most don't even know what swr's stand for. I know this because I drive a truck and was that way for a long time. My rig in my truck now that is setup properly is good for only about 10 miles at best barefoot. I can hear farther than that sometimes (depending on conditions and terrain) but can't talk more than 10-11 miles at best. Hope this helps.

You got that right. A friend of mine worked for Werner. When he was in training, there was a CB in the cab but his trainer said it didn't work very well. My friend took a look at it...the SWR was sky high! It turns out the cab had been pre-wired for co-phased antennas but only one antenna was installed. During a Christmas holiday, my friend yanked out all the 75 ohm coax, installed one length of RG-8X and installed a longer CB antenna to replace the dinky Firestick and they got much better results.

And I'll admit it...I didn't know what SWR stood for. Heck, I didn't even know there was such a thing when I first got started. I had a small radio and a magnet mount sitting in my bedroom window. But I learned quickly thanks to all the stations around me....although it's amazing anyone heard me at all to begin with.

[Texas Mobil 219]

Thanks to Everyone for your reply's.

Today i was talking about 30 miles on power. System seems to be fine. I will get another metter just to be sure. But the ol boy said i was rocking his mobil in west of Friendswood. Im in Baytown. I guess some days are better than others.

Once again Thank for the info. Happy New Year.

219 Swinging in Texas

[BONEHEAD]

I took a 102 whip and put it into Wilson 1000 Coil with antenna matcher..after getting flat SWR, I picked up locals that were hard to hear before.. at least a 2 db gain.. height is the factor.. even a tiny 3' advantage.plus with the Wilson 1000 coil... even with a cheap RS tuner it will work good.. try it in your mobile you will like it.. :D
Doug