tuning and antenna placement

[575Colorado]

I have a voyage vr9000 and a 102" whip. My question is this, how do I determine the right placement for my antenna. Right now, I hear lots of skip on lsb38, but they can't hear me. Made one contact last week, but I hear people daily and can't get out to them. I have the antenna in front of passenger wheel well of to one side of the bed. I know getting the antenna in the middle would be better, but I have alot of other crap that has to go there. I'm getting a ground plane kit from sparky's for the antenna, and wonder if anyone has had experience with these. I'm wondering if this will help compensate for the antenna placement or if it's not going to help much. any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[575Colorado]

more power? to get through the crowd?

 

[W5LZ]

575Colorado,
The 'best' place to put a mobile antenna is as high and as far from other stuff as possible. It's different in every case, some people are more 'picky' about where they are willing to put an antenna. So, in effect, the best place to put it is the best place you can find in your particular situation. It sounds like you have a 'place' and you have a choice. Use it 'as is', or try a different place. In general, the higher the better, and some place where it isn't right up next to any metal on the antenna's sides.

About that 'groundplane' thingy. If it's for a mobile antenna it's almost surely junk. The vehicle is the groundplane, adding something that's supposed to be a 'groundplane' to that is a waste of money. (But it's your money.) There are lots of 'gadgets' for 'CB' antennas. The huge majority of them are only for the purpose of transferring your money to the seller's pocket.
Good luck.
- 'Doc

 

[575Colorado]

antenna is still about 12'6" up. I figured the ground plane "thingy" might be junk, for 5.99 had to try.

 

[mopar2ya]

First of all, marketing that device you purchased as a ground plane kit says a lot about the manufacturer, and the retailer. The device is not a ground plane kit.

Second, are you sure it isn't just syntax? What I mean is... There are many different types of folks on the CB, and they all speak differently. If you use CH19 AM lingo on CH38 LSB, you will not get good results. If you use CH38 LSB lingo on CH6 AM you will not get good results. It is a ridiculous practice IMHO, but it is there whether I like it or not.

If you have been on the radio for some time and are already aware of this, sorry for bringing it up. If you are fairly new, listen closely to how everyone sounds, and try and sound like them. You may have better luck. Or, even better yet, seek out a frequency where everyone sounds like you in the first place, and hang out there!

Mopar

 

[W5LZ]

And just to add another bit of 'lore' you might not have thought of yet, the simple answer may be that they just didn't hear you. SSB is sort of like AM in that people all use different power levels, different antennas, and propagation plays a big part in all of it.
Being slightly off frequency (very common) isn't a huge problem when talking to just one station, with more than one it can be a huge problem (somebody is going to sound like a 'Donald Duck'). That means that you almost have to be 'twiddling' a knob constantly to hear everyone plainly. You can be almost half of a channel off of an AM station and still understand them, not with SSB. Aligning or setting up a radio for SSB is more exacting than for AM, transmit and receive frequencies ought to be exactly the same. Unfortunately, they very seldom are for all parties concerned (that's why that 'slidder'/RIT/XIT/BFO/whatever you want to call it knob is on there). The problem with that thingy is that people very seldom ever set it back to 'zero' when finished (after they find 'zero' to start with!). The simplest 'cure' for the whole thing is to beat the @#$ radio to death with a hammer and take up knitting! Ain't radio stuff fun??
- 'Doc

 

[575Colorado]

let's see... where to start. I'm fairly confident in the dealer I chose simply because of the feedback I read on a couple other forums. Nothing but good things said, but who knows? I don't know anyone locally that I would trust to mess with the radio. i also don't know anyone to test my radio with locally. A friend of mine is getting the same radio from the same place this weekend, so we'll be able to test each other. The one time i had really good receive on someone, and yelled back, he copied right away @ over 1000 miles, but two truckers on am started causing interference on his receive and our coversation was cut short before I could ask questions about my transmit.
the skip i've heard lately has been faint, like if i turn up my squelch at all, i won't hear it. I realize it could be syntax. i also know about the difference in frequency. I try to tune to the strongest signal i hear, but that doesn't mean he's not the one that is the most off.

 

[575Colorado]

p.s. sixbrix: home is colorado springs. currently welding on oil locations outside of rifle

 

[575Colorado]

got 3 or 4 callbacks tonight. talked on lsb37 to oklahoma and got a good report on the radio. said it was "top shelf" Others from arkansas, txas, and cali on lsb38. Channel was so busy, everyone was keying over each other, and lots of noise in the background. The contacts on 38 were short, usually just a call back. anything longer was lost in the noise.

 

[SR385]

Conditions, conditions, conditions.

The band is just barely open lately and conditions are rough. For sure, just because you can hear a station doesn't mean you will be able to work them.

Don't get too suspicious of your rig based on whether you can make skip contacts. Best bet is to get a local to check it out on sideband and make sure it's working properly within local range.

When conditions are right, particularly when the sun cycle kicks back in in the coming few years, you will be able to make contacts much more easily.

I have spent half days all over the ham bands working mobile with almost no luck at all because of band conditions. They change all the time and you never quite know what to expect until you try. Just the other day I was talking to Italy/Montenegro/Portugal like the guys were sitting next to me on my drive in to work. Two days later, a cold streak for about a week straight.

It's not the radio, it's the conditions.

 

[575Colorado]

thanks for the replies and the opinions. all are appreciated.