Topband: Effect of trees- tree appreciation

[Tom W8JI]

>
> Just thinking here - I can hold my hand on a 75 watt lightbulb for a few 
> seconds.  10 of those lightbulbs-worth of heat isn't very much heat, 
> dissipated over the surface area of the bark of a tree, 60 feet tall, in 
> winter, with low temps, and maybe even some wind can't really have much in 
> the way of visible impact, could it?  Gone up in flaming glory?
>

Good logical thinking. It's difficult to know a 6 dB change without 
measurement, let alone three dB.

Take a tank coil as an example. Even 50 watts of loss could make it smoke or 
melt if the loss is concentrated in one small area, say just a  few turns. 
If loss is spread over enough area, even 1000 watts power loss might not be 
noticeable.

This not only applies to trees, it applies to everything from ferrite cores 
to transmission lines.     0.1 dB loss in a coax connector can melt it down 
at amateur power levels, 10 dB loss in a 100-foot cable might be 
unnoticeable.

73 Tom