Are you facing HIGH SWR due to snow or thunder?
And when the winter brings snowy conditions, area can be tricky to maneuver. So, before a heavy winter storm brings out the snow plows, let us take a moment to appreciate the thousand-yard stares and hair-trigger snow truck drivers dashing through the snow.
Imagine you’re kicking your rig on a deathly highway or forest, and suddenly weather gets change—fatty snow starts or rain with storm and thunder?
Imagine the worst scenario and let me know who gonna help you get out of this?
Loud crashed lighting can effect, and it will be awful. And you are right in the middle of that a wild night (I promise i don’t want to be there).
How will you cope with all this, with that lighting, storm, snows—how?
If you think they will come slow on you—you are wrong; they will not.
There is always a solution out there, but they’re always a BETTER solution out there, and one should know its combination.
10 Meter Radio + Badass CB Antenna—How that sound?
You have a perfect car, but you don’t have a capable driver to test its limit. Isn’t it pity?
10-meter radio and a CB Antenna, is capable of covering more than 10 miles—no question its a better choice for bad Weather.
If you do not use right the radio, antenna, and COAX, bad weather can make it hard for you. And can give birth to high SWR, low coverage range, drifting in SSB, and low sound. Its easy to get confuse when there is bad weather out there. Keeping a balance between these factors is a highly important.
One of the most significant factors in 10-meter radio performance , is how your weather behaves. These weather changes affect the HF frequencies in particular. Moreover, if you bring the frequencies lower, you will feel the weather effects on your 10-meter radio.
What problems can be caused by Bad Weather?
These precautions are for you for all who have 10-meter radio systems installed into their RIGS. But before you make your radio system safe. It is important to know how your system will be affected by BAD weather.
When your CB antenna is exposed to harsh weather, your antenna may get affected or damaged. This defective antenna will transmit and receive the signals so irregularly that it will destroy your communication in the long run.
In severe conditions like heavy rainfall or lightning, your 10-meter radio system can also face strong electromagnetic interference that can damage your radio’s internal components and your CB antenna.
Sometimes if you have not made all the connections tightly or your equipment has not been installed and grounded correctly. There are chances that the rain & snow can enter your system and block its normal channels.
You can also find your CB antenna covered with snow that serves as a barrier between the antenna and the incoming signals. After this, you will start receiving high SWR readings on the meter, showing that your radio is not worth operating for some time.
What problems can be caused by Bad Weather?
First, try to get the best CB antenna; make sure it’s not open coil and pre-tuned. Open coil antennas look neat, but a dirty coil reduces the performance properties of the antenna. Ice or snow can cut performance in half.
While making the connections, make sure everything is tight and sealed well. Don’t leave any space open for the entry of water or snow into the system. You should check for these crevices or cracks in the coaxial cable when buying them from a shop.
Generally, the 10-meter radio services are down when the weather is not so good. So the users try to keep their radios off till the time the weather gets clear. This will prevent your system from catching any intrusions and your receiver from getting damaged.
It is quite evident that due to bad weather, the SWR level for your radio will be badly affected. So to ensure that your system doesn’t get damaged due to high SWR readings, keep your antenna well-tuned, and if that is not possible, keep the radio off.
It would be best to tune the antenna in an open space when the weather gets clear.
SWR readings and their significance are as follows:
- 1:1: Although it is difficult to achieve, you can get it if you tune your CB antenna carefully.
- 1.1-1.5: It is very simple to achieve but difficult to maintain.
- 1.6-2.0: This is the average reading you can achieve.
- 2.1-2.9: This range shows that you have entered into the red zone and your CB system is at risk if you continue to operate it within this range.
- 3.0: This reading is simply a no-no because it shows the extreme SWR level that can completely devastate your radio system from inside.
These recommendations are the general solutions to most weather-related issues that can hit your 10-meter radio system during the events.
Conclusion:
We did not say, “everything we mentioned above is something you do not know before. You could have known these facts, and there is also a possibility that you have not taken care of it.
One thing is obvious from the above article. Sooner or later, money is going out of your pocket, and that’s a fact which you can’t deny. As it’s not your money, but the question is, will you use that money in making a bad choice? Because if you are not going to make a good choice, you will spend it on a bad choice—for sure.
It’s a waste of time and money if your CB Antenna or 10-meter radio doest help you out when you need it, especially in snow or thunderstorms.
That’s why we recommend you to use our top-of-the-line radios which can give you High Power. With 497HPC, you can deliver 100+ watts. If you are an SSB user and love to do secret chats, you can have an SR-955HPC SSB radio. After selecting the radio, pair it up with our beast CB antenna SR-A10 Lighted Blue version. It helps you to cover more than 10miles and keeps your SWR below 1.5