Dave, I value your tupence and have copied a local WhatsAp DX group with
your observation. Thank you.73 Doug EI2CNSent from my Galaxy
-------- Original message --------From: Dave Sublette <k4to.dave@gmail.com>
Date: 19/05/2022 01:54 (GMT+00:00) To: kj6y--- via TowerTalk
<towertalk@contesting.com> Subject: [TowerTalk] 1 or 2 dB I've hesitated to
chime in here because I thought the problem was beingdiscussed very well and
perhaps I don't have anything to add. But I do.From December 1983 to April
1989 I operated 160 through 6 meters fromKwajalein, Marshall Islands. The
pileups were big and were there everytime I pressed a key or opened a mic. I
made 83,000 QSOs, filled 19logbooks. There were no home computers for me at
that time.One night things were a bit slow on the bands and I had three
stations inSan Diego on 20 meters to keep me company. All were running
comparablestations. KW and tribanders at 70 feet. They all lived within a
couple ofmiles of each other. So I proposed an experiment. I had them each
say asentence in turn, perhaps no more than 6 seconds. And keep it
goingaround, one sentence after another. I watched my S-meter. At anygiven
moment, one of them would be 10 to 20 dB stronger than the othertwo. And it
was a different station each time. We did this for maybe tenminutes and the
results were as I have described.I learned some things from this that I wish I
had known while chasing DXfrom the States before I went to Kwaj. Primarily,
propagation is king. Noamount of power will guarantee your signal to be
highest at all times. Icame to think of propagation as a searchlight,
constantly scanning.Whichever station is shined on at the moment would be the
one that gotthrough the pileup. Had I realized this, my anxiety level about
working theDX over the years would have been much lower. Sooner or later, it
will beyour turn.The second thing that occurred to me is that there is no
substitute forcrisp operating technique. Call only when the DX is listening.
Hear the DXstation before you call.In any pileup I could hear at least five
levels of signals, even wheneveryone one was transmitting at the same
time.Based on all of the above, I would tend to disregard any worry over one
orto dB.But, as was pointed out, over the long haul in a contest it evidently
makesa difference.There are two other circumstances where 1 or 2 dB makes a
difference. EMEcommunications. We don't strive for that last tenth of a dB
noise figurefor no good reason.The other circumstance in my mind would be
digital modes on a "dead" band.It could make a difference of whether or not the
report was decoded.Just my two cents worth. I have enjoyed the
discussion.73,Dave,
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