# Skipping on Citizens Band Radio 27 Mhz **URL:** \ **Category:** Off Topic Lounge\ **Created:** [October 18, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575 "2026-10-18T20:03:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/david_smith/32/2507_2.png) [@David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/David_Smith)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/1 "2026-10-18T20:03:15Z")
Skipping on 27mhz/ 11-meter \* ### Please post if are or planing on doing skipping on 11-meter/27mhz - 1. The 98-inch antenna is best; the 18-foot antenna is better. 1. Angle the antenna 30° to 60°, pointing north. This may differ depending on your location. 2. Gray line propagation on the other end, or receive side. ⁜⁜⁜⁜⁜ How I found out ⁜⁜⁜⁜ If was not for Handheld HH50WXST I would not have figured out . I use 52 inch antenna and receiver skipping. Then have a 18 foot antenna on a tripod I could till was the piece of the puzzle. I could till that big antenna too⁜ With the Gray Line Propagation on the receive end was last piece of puzzled { time of day.} ⁜⁜⁜ Time of day ⁜⁜⁜⁜⁜ Timing of Gray line propagation: The window is short-lived, lasting only about 15 to 30 minutes to a few hours around local dawn and dusk ⁜⁜⁜ How it works ⁜⁜⁜ How 11-Meter Long Distance (Skip) Actually Works Instead of gray line tracking, long-distance communication (“skip”) on the 11-meter band relies on entirely different ionospheric mechanisms: F2-Layer Skywave Propagation: This is heavily dependent on the Solar Flux Index (SFI) and sunspot counts. It is strongest during the peak hours of daylight when the F2 layer is fully energized by the sun, particularly during a solar maximum. Sporadic E (Es): Common during summer months, this form of propagation occurs when highly charged clouds of electrons in the E-layer reflect 11-meter signals across long distances, independent of the twilight line. ❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋❋ If looking for data on CB skipping you need to search 10 and 12 meter. They will skip over 11-meter I lub my antenna for smoth sliding and no scoring giving the best contact. Using chap stick ![CB HH50WXST](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/193f85a73127c9d46971a9f96f2985c7ce3c6910.jpeg) ![20261016_140326](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/uploads/default/original/2X/1/16064513d7a02e33faa8514799574073a586db17.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/david_smith/32/2507_2.png) [@David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/David_Smith)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 7:27am UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/2 "2026-10-29T07:27:45Z")
- ### See if others are doing Skipping maybe think of doing skip on Citizens Band 11-meter - Radio I have look Two-way Radio and found two that do job on a budget. COBRA HH50WXST or President TED FCC AM/FM CB Radio. All the sell will do a great job for skipping ---
**Author:** ![paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/paulears/32/408_2.png) [@paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/paulears)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 3:42pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/3 "2026-10-29T15:42:11Z")
I know I am going to regret this, but where is the groundplane? The VSWR must be dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/david_smith/32/2507_2.png) [@David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/David_Smith)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 4:04pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/4 "2026-10-29T16:04:56Z")
A wire to a steel fence A basic ground SWR meter has 239 and radio i use has BNC Dave ---
**Author:** ![paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/paulears/32/408_2.png) [@paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/paulears)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/5 "2026-10-29T18:37:30Z")
Dave - you’ve got a bit tangled up here. There are two different components. The VSWR meter tells you the power going one way and the reflected power. Best match is all of it going out, but none returning. The ground plane is best thought of as a ‘reflector’ or mirror image of an antenna. If you have a half wave dipole - fed with the coax in the centre, one 1/4 wave element goes up vertically, the other 1/4 wave drops down exactly the same length. Electrically it is balanced and on the right frequency is a great way to convert RF down the cable into RF into the world. If you remove that bottom element and sit the upwards section on top of a big bit of metal, long rods or wires or a mesh - as long as the size is bigger than the wavelength, you have created a 1/4wave ground plane. This needs to be DIRECTLY under the whip. If it is not, very strange currents will flow in the coax of the antenna between the whip base and the ground plane. If you don’t have the lump of metal directly under the bottom feed point of the whip, and connect to a steel fence - it tries to behave like the ‘mirror’ or reflector and fails badly. You can get a sensible meter reading so electrically everything is happy, but around a vertical dipole or quarter wave should be a donut shaped, omnidirectional radiation pattern. using bizarre ground planes means your output might go north/south and not east/west or could go straight up, or hug the ground. It is like putting one loudspeaker on the edge of a football ground and hoping everyone will hear the announcements. In some directions, it will work - perhaps even quite well, but in others, hardly at all. Your system is, being honest, totally random and we have no idea how it compares to a properly designed system. The radiator seems to be at an angle too - so results will be difficult to predict. It clearly works, but is a pretty terrible system, that follows none of the usual rules and is really just a piece of wire in the sky. It is NOT functioning as a proper, designed antenna. Is that cable 50Ohms? In the UK, that type is normally TV impedance - as in 75Ohms? If so, this results in the VSWR meter misreading too. You tell us you get great distances - if you sort out the antenna, you’d get even better performance. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/david_smith/32/2507_2.png) [@David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/David_Smith)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 6:47pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/6 "2026-10-29T18:47:45Z")
I am trying figure out why it is working so will . The coax i am using is scrap Chinese made god only knows the spec. I have other American made 100% copper but saving for permanent antenna with all spec Dave ---
**Author:** ![paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/paulears/32/408_2.png) [@paulears](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/paulears)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/7 "2026-10-29T21:41:30Z")
If the cable is not 50 Ohm impedance, then when you tune the antenna, the meter will read incorrectly - so the match between the radio and antenna is less good than it appears. If you squirt 4W down the cable and you lose 25% before it gets radiated, that’s wasting power, and worse, your receive is less good too. Sometimes it even means your cable actually radiates the power - sort of becoming part of the antenna.Look up “home made wire dipoles” for 10m - the hams use these. Theyre very simple to make - 2 bits of wire, with string attached and you sort of hang them like a washing line. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/user_avatar/www.twowayradioforum.com/david_smith/32/2507_2.png) [@David\_Smith](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/u/David_Smith)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2026, 10:57pm UTC](https://www.twowayradioforum.com/t/skipping-on-citizens-band-radio-27-mhz/13575/8 "2026-10-29T22:57:23Z")
It is made China it anyones guess That why i have new cable for a permanent installation. Thank you Dave