CB Radio re SWR question...ANSWERED (update)

hershey wrote:

Ah. Got it. So it is transmitting. A significant point - SWR has almost nothing to do with transmit or receive range. The reason we care about SWR is to keep the radio happy. So if you are perusing range, SWR is the wrong rabbit to chance. The efficiency of the antenna is where to look.

So, with a good SWR, you won't damage the radio. But to get good range, the cable and antenna need to be doing a good job of getting the signal in the wire into the air. The best way to test this is by measuring field strength - which can be coarsely done with just another receiver - like your handheld radio.

So using your theory, we can just stick a coat hanger in the back of the cb radio and we're as good as we can get when it comes to transmissions???? Maybe move it to the roof for a better view?
I'm being sarcastic I know but, I don't think your theory is accurate.

The principle is accurate. There are thousands of radios and antennas in use right now that are demonstrating this principle. A longer antenna is better than a shorter one, but let's stick to your coathanger idea.

If you were to just stick a coathanger wire out the back (but make sure we have a connection to ground too), the SWR would likely be very high and the radio would be "unhappy". Since we are stuck with the coathanger, let's add an antenna tuner. This is a inductor and/or capacitor network that changes the impedance that the radio sees and thus can keep the radio "happy". So now our SWR is 1:1, the radio is happy, and the antenna is no better or worse that it was before. Changing the SWR had no effect on the energy leaving the antenna.

The conclusion - get a better antenna or better location if you want better signal strength. SWR is the wrong rabbit to chase.