What did I do wrong!!!!!

[KF7NUA]

I have been ground strapping and snap ferriteing these last few weeks and today I noticed something I had never seen before.
 Normally when I change hamsticks I switch an A-B switch to a meter and I change the antenna, I then change freq and last switch the A-B back to the antenna.
 Today I forgot to switch the A-B, hopped out and changed the antenna from a 20m to a 10m, got back into the truck and I noticed the same quso going on using this 10m antenna. I moved the dial around and I could still here all the traffic on 20 with the 10. I changed the freq on the radio to 40m and I could hear the traffic on 40. I did the same thing to 15m, 17, and 10m and I could hear all the traffic on each freq. I removed the stick and all went dead on all freq. It is nice having a receive antenna for all freq the size of a 10m hustler antenna but I am sure there is an underlying problem I am not aware of.
 
What did I do wrong, is my truck now the antenna and the hamstcks are now a counterpoise   

Any suggestions or help?

[WX7G]

Might this be a non-problem?

[W8JX]

A stick will hear on more than one band but it will hear best on the band it is made for. A 10m stick will hear better on other bands than say a 40 or 20m because it is basically a unload 8 foot vertical.

[AC4RD]

A stick will hear on more than one band but it will hear best on the band it is made for.

Exactly right.  You'll miss some of the weaker stations, listening to 20m with a 10m stick, and don't try transmitting with that setup, but for listening, it works well enough.

I'm using Hustler resonators and whips, quick disconnects, and the same mast for each band.   Often I'll get in the car and, say I was listening to 20m on the morning commute, I'll tune across 15m to see if I hear activity.  If it sounds promising, I'll hop out and switch to the 15m resonator before I drive off.  Very convenient!

[AA4PB]

It's a normal thing for an antenna to receive signals on bands where it is not resonant (a 10M antenna receiving signals on 20M and 40M for example). Trying to transmit on the wrong antenna is a different matter. The SWR on the wrong antenna will be very high which in the best case will cause the transmitter's protection circuit to reduce its power output and in the worst case will damage the output transistor(s).

In the receive case the correct antenna will receive a stronger signal than the wrong antenna but it will also pick up more external noise. The result can be that the signal to noise ratio remains the same and you can sometimes actually copy the signal as well on the wrong antenna as on the correct antenna. This is especially true of the lower frequency bands like 80M and 40M.

[K1CJS]

You didn't do anything wrong.  When you're listening, sometimes you can receive signals very well with just a piece of wire thrown out of a window.  Just try transmitting with that, though, and you won't get a good signal out--and you may very well fry the finals in your rig!

When you're transmitting, having the proper antenna is EXTREMELY important, that isn't so when you're just receiving--although you'll be able to hear more with the proper antenna.

[KF7NUA]

Thank you for all the responses....
I am well aware not to transmit with the wrong stick so I will not do that but it is good to know that I can scan another freq before I stop the truck and jump out to change the stck. This is good to know.

73 Nick

[W4FID]

About anything will serve as a receiving antenna. Pee on your shoelace, hang it out the window, you'll hear some stuff. It will hear better at frequencies where it's resonant and multiples (harmonics) of that freq -- but you'll hear plenty with any wire hanging off the antenna connector. However transmitting is a different story. If the antenna isn't resonant at the transmit frequency (tuners can modify this somewhat) the SWR will be high and the reflected power back to the rig not only doesn't radiate to do you any good it may fry the final amp stage of the rig. So a 10M hamstick will transmit on 10M but will hear anywhere -- other bands -- short wave commercial broadcast -- etc.

[KB9BPF]

About anything will serve as a receiving antenna. Pee on your shoelace, hang it out the window, you'll hear some stuff.

Sounds like a MacGyver trick!