Topband: Hindering factors in the science of back yard 160m vertical inst...

[Guy Olinger K2AV]

On Sat, Nov 5, 2011 at 1:42 PM,  <PaulKB8N at aol.com> wrote:
> RBN is a useful tool, and I'm a "junkie" for it, but it, too, has some
> anomalies and limittions.

The very best RBN comparisons are for an entire contest, between two
stations in the same metro area, or same part of a state, in the same
general geographic category.  There is an RBN beta graph function that
will allow you to pick an RBN station and then the call signs for
comparison on the graph.  You can then see a day's worth of signal
readings on two different color graph lines. You can discern even 2 dB
of difference quite reliably.  It doesn't tell you why of course.  But
it does a really good job of how much.  You can also download a whole
day's worth of readings and import them into Excel for further
analysis. If you can get yourself within a few dB of a good performing
station, you will do well.   If there are time of day dependent
differences, those will show up too.

73, Guy