Funny CB fail and Wierd SWR reading.

So a friend got me a Uniden BC 880 as a "best man gift" for his wedding. I immediately procured all the fixings to install. CBI hood mount (awesome quality btw), USA made cable, 3' firefly and stud. I spend today with my buddy mounting and installing. I get it done, and as dinner is cooking, I zip off to tune the antenna. The wife loves this of course. We eat, and I suggest we "take a drive to get ice cream" so I can show off my new toy....and...

Nothing... I live in North Dallas right of I35E, a MAJOR THROUGHFAIR, that also happens to be under construction and there are TONS of truckers out. Not one peep on any channel. I know I'm receiving because weather comes in nice and clear. We get home and my wife won't let me live it down. "Great CB baby." "Wow lots of fun." I think I reached my low when I attempted a Mic Check on 19... Silence. WTF?! Lol Why is there no one on the air waves? Where is everyone?

So that said I have a question. SWR was as follows ch1 2.7, ch 20 1.3, ch 40 1.2. Why so high on ch 1? I've been reading every thread about CB's everywhere, and have never seen this addressed. Any tips?

edit: found something I can try.

Edit 4/10: It worked, Calibrate the SWR on channel 20 then tune antenna and record SWR. Flip to 1, test and record...then 40 and test and record. If SWR is higher on 1 than 40, lengthen antenna until it's low. If its higher on 40, shorten the antenna until low. I have SWR's on all three below 1.5.

Also more traffic today so I'm not crazy but the lingo used on there is impossible to translate.

 

The good old days:

Hey reefer, got a smokey in a plain white wrapper with a ray gun at the county line good buddy.

The jargon got so complicated it was like a new language. I stayed off ch19 for that reason.

 

Agreed, I'll chime in sometime soon. Like when I hear a normal conversation. You have to be fast though because people go out of range so fast.