[CQ-Contest] 1966 vs 2006 [was: Why did the Canadians (PT5M) beat the Americans...]

[Radiosporting Fan]

--- "Vladimir V. Sidorov" <vs_otw at rogers.com> wrote:
> His 3 ele plus 500 W transmitted were able to break
> another hop losses, so that the crowd of 100 W/wet
> noodle guys could hear HIM, but by return their
> energy could NOT break the 3rd hop power limit
> minimum required. Having had a couple of dB
> by, say, another element in his antenna array or so,
> he might open up another layer of stations, ...

Interestingly, Vladimir ... I've observed the same
thing at the other end of the spectrum... 24 and 47
GHz.

SSB Electronics makes a 0.2 mW (yes, 200 microwatts!)
47 GHz transverter.  Even into a 1-foot dish, the ERP
could not "punch through" much distance (over 20km). 
We played with attempting DX to much frustration.

Eventually, some of our group assembled a power
amplifier that took people "over the threashold" of
background noise and atmospheric losses.  While the
0.2mW stations could *sometimes* (rarely) be heard,
the 10mW stations could *always* be heard by
*everyone*.

In this case, a 15-dB step is what it took to uncover
the "next layer".  FWIW (which is more academic than
scientific),  Ev, W2EV


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