Something strange

[4600turbo]

I've noticed lately that when I go to a different channel. The signal strength on that channel is different than the channel I was on.

For instance. I was on channel 19 talking to a local and then we switched to channel 27 the signal I was receiving was different. It was lower he sounded farther away. What is causes this problem? The SWR is fine. Flat across the band.

Could it be that the person I'm talking to has a SWR problem of his own and it causing his radio not put out on those frequencies the same? Just found it really strange.

 

[W5LZ]

There can be a number of reasons why that is happening, SWR being pretty far down the list of those reasons.
There are a number of things that come to mind. The first is that there is just more noise on some channels than others which changes the signal to noise ratio, which can make some signals seem weaker than others even if there is no difference in that station's operating conditions (SWR, power output, etc.). It could also be that your friend may have some kind of 'SWR' problem as suggested, but not really that likely. The same for your end of things. SWR is not a very good way to determine how well your antenna system is working. In fact, it's one of the worst ways. That's not the easiest thing in the world to understand, especially with all the emphasis that's typically placed on SWR. That really can account for the 'strangeness' you encountered.
To understand why all that about SWR it takes some background information, so hit them books. I haven't seen anyone on these forums that can explain it well without that 'background', and that certainly includes me too. Yeah, I know, it sounds like a typical 'cop-out', but it isn't. A very unscientific way of saying it is that SWR is a measurement of the impedance match between feed line and antenna. Since that impedance being measured is made up of resistance and reactances, and since reactances don't 'do' any radiating only resistance does, and since there can be a very wide range of those 'R' and 'X' values who's combination will result in a low SWR reading, that means that the 'R' (resistance) varies a pretty wide amount, so does the signal being radiated. And all that time the SWR meter can't tell the difference, it can read 'good' when actually it should read 'bad'. (Don't you wish you hadn't asked??)
From there is can get really complicated and sort of long winded. I'm too lazy...
- 'Doc

 

[4600turbo]

quick being lazy! tell me.

 

[W5LZ]

Read 'da book.

When I was growing up it was called being lazy. Now, it's defined as 'efficiency'. I am an efficiency expert!
- 'Doc

 

[dudmuck]

I've noticed lately that when I go to a different channel. The signal strength on that channel is different than the channel I was on.

For instance. I was on channel 19 talking to a local and then we switched to channel 27 the signal I was receiving was different. It was lower he sounded farther away. What is causes this problem? The SWR is fine. Flat across the band.

Could it be that the person I'm talking to has a SWR problem of his own and it causing his radio not put out on those frequencies the same? Just found it really strange.

I would say the guy you were talking to turned off his amplifier when he moved to channel 27, either accidentally or on purpose.
If it bothers you, do the same test with another CBer.