On Sep 15, 2007, at 9/15 9:34 AM, John Fleming wrote:
> Everyone seems to avoid directly answering the question, "Then what
> about
> antennas etc?" Any knowledgeable ham would have to admit that
> antennas are
> more important than power, yet we have a power category and not an
> antenna
> category.
I think John has hit the nail on the head.
Even though it is seldom that people have the 10 dB gain over an
average antenna as they do running an amplifier, antennas help not
just in the transmit direction but also in the receive direction --
what an amplifier cannot buy you. With RTTY, an extra 2 dB of
directivity could mean the difference of pulling out an exchange and
not pulling out an exchange.
> (That's probably because rules are more easily made for power
> than for antennas.)
Using EIRP instead of output power would be a good start. It would
incorporate both power and antenna gain into a single rule. However
it will still not account for take off angles between high and low
antennas, which is arguably more important than just a raw "gain"
number when DX is concerned.
Anyhow, I don't have a dog in this hunt. I seldom even log the
stations that I work in a contest anymore. I just occasionally work
people for fun when I tune across a contest.
73
Chen, W7AY
_______________________________________________
RTTY mailing list
RTTY@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rtty
|