Thanks for the explanation. I would have had no idea what 66pct would mean despite knowing what VF is roughly as a concept.
I now turn to the mic, that is the next likely cause or possibly the radio itself. The Gain Master with its highly effective built in choke would very likely have seen put to any CMCs. So I move onto the next likely things in the chain.
Short skip season is here now in the UK and I find that only slightly interesting it is very easy skip when it is on. Probably better off with a 1/2 wave silver rod for that type of skip to raise the angle of attack slightly. Typically it means contacts into mainland Europe of about, 1,000 - 1,500 miles max.
I find with radio (11m at least, I have no interest in Ham bands, just more of the same really except you feel even less free) it gets to be a bit of a "been there, done it, got the T-Shirt" type of hobby after a while. You can improve your station to perform better, more height basically (the vertical antennas within 2-3dB are essentially all the same, whether it is a IMAX2000, Gain Master, Vector 4K once you have one set up properly it will be very small difference in radiation angles and gain )...but you still only get what the conditions give you and that takes the personal and progressive technical challenge out of it. I limit myself to vertical omni directionals as that to me is a real station and not just shooting fish in a barrel when using a beam.
I think I have pretty much gone as far as I can with a Gain Master and an IMAX now. I just go on to say hello and enjoy the weather, the landscape and fresh air. I have read something about CB frequencies being phased out in Europe which might mean the nails in the lid of the coffin for 27MHz.
