[TenTec]TenTec RX-320 S-meter/SIGNAL REPORTS.

[Carl Hyde]

Well Scott the problem is that the whole thing is very
subjective. I think if you put ten hams in a room and
let them listen to the same signal you would get ten
different signal reports. The complaint about S meters
is valid but the only instrument most of us have to
make any judjement is our s-meter. Yet we know that
most S-meters are very poor instruments. 

I have listened to and conducted many QSOs and with
all that experience I still don't really know how to
properly evaluate a received signal. Its especially
frustrating when I give a 477 to a really weak but
still intelligable station and someone in the same
vicinity as me, whom I actually know, gives the same
contact a 599. Now I know that he and I have just
about the same setup and in fact we have the same
radio and log periodic beam antenns though his is 10
feet higher than mine. He also has about 10 years more
experience than I do. When I called him after this
particular QSO he said it sounded like a 599 to me. So
there you go the scale has become meaningless. 

If I'm in a ragchew SSB QSO and the DX operator seems
like he wants a real signal report then I always
describe how I'm hearing his signal. If he just wants
a quick report and has a pileup then I do my best to
evaluate his signal with the code. 

I probably do the worst job on CW, mainly because I
don't work cw as seriously as others do. At 13wpm I'm
not going to enter any contests so I can usually take
the time to tap out a verbal report and let the other
guy decide what that means. 

So I find the whole business of signal reports to be
very frustrating because there is really no
legitimately consistent way to learn how to evaluate a
signal to give a report. I'm sure that the intention
of maybe 20% of all hams is to give a good honest
report. I don't think the remaining 80%, myself
included, know how to give a good report. This is an
interesting thread though.  It isn't really Ten Tec
specific but it is operator knowledge. So if anyone
wants to share their technique of giving good signal
reports maybe we could all learn something. 



=====
Carl S.HYDE
W2CSH
cshyde@yahoo.com
Eagles May Soar, But Weasles Never Get Sucked Into Jet Engines!

Politics: From the Greek word Poli, meaning many and
the word tics, meaning blood sucking parasites.
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